Instructional Practices That Foster Students’ Early Algebra Learning

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Supporting Cognitive Shifts in Mathematics Education (Table 8)

Abstract

This study examines elementary school teachers’ instructional practices with respect to early algebra teaching. We used a large-scale, longitudinal study to examine teachers’ actions and we characterized their instruction using previously established frameworks for understanding teaching effectiveness. We then documented the impact of such instruction on students’ performance using both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Our findings suggest that teachers’ actions that are specific to the development of algebraic practices (such as supporting the development of justification, generalization and representation) correlate with gains in student performance, while other actions that attend to broader aspects of instruction (such as engaging students and efficiency in use of instructional time) do not.

Authors

• Boram Lee, Utah State University

• Despina A. Stylianou, City College of New York - CUNY

• Rena Stroud, Merrimack College

• Eric J. Knuth, National Science Foundation