Increasing Inclusion through Problem Solving

• In Event: Promoting inclusive social development in Japanese public schools 

Proposal

U.S. students perform poorly in mathematical reasoning and problem-solving; 15-year-olds rank 26th of 34 countries studied (OECD, 2014), despite some improvement in basic mathematical skills. Poor mathematical problem-solving is not surprising, since U.S. mathematics instruction is dominated by teacher-led presentation of new procedures and concepts (Banilower et al., 2013), providing few opportunities for U.S. students to engage in problem-solving as mathematicians define it–to solve tasks for which the solution method is not known in advance (Schoenfeld, 1985). In contrast, Japanese students routinely learn new mathematical concepts by grappling with an unfamiliar problem that embodies the new mathematics to be learned (Takahashi, 2008; Watanabe, 2014), as TIMSS researchers wrote in the 1990’s:

When we watched a Japanese lesson,…we noticed that the teacher presents a problem to the students without first demonstrating how to solve the problem. We realized that U.S. teachers almost never do this…the [U.S.] teacher almost always demonstrates a procedure for solving problems before assigning them to students. (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999, p. 77).

Mathematics functions as gatekeeper, closing off desirable college and career paths for many U.S. students, especially historically under-served students (Bryk, Gomez, Grunow, & LeMahieu, 2015; Van Campen, Sowers, & Strother, 2013). Japan’s routine high performance in mathematics (OECD, 2015) and the emphasis on student mathematical agency (McDougal & Takahashi, 2014) motivated research that introduced U.S. educators to Japanese mathematics Teaching Through Problem-solving, in order to address the following questions:
1. Do US educators find Japanese Teaching Through Problem-solving to be a useful tool in building the mathematics learning of low-income, traditionally underserved students, and what challenges are encountered in trying to use it in US classrooms?
2. Does Teaching Through Problem-solving benefit U.S. students, including low-income students and other historically underserved groups?
3. What adaptations and professional learning contexts allow US educators to successfully use Teaching Through Problem-solving to support student learning?

Study One was a randomized, controlled trial in which 72 teachers across the United States were assigned to one of two conditions: study of Japanese mathematics teaching materials and videos along with a workshop that included live observation of instruction; or self-study of online US materials identified as high-quality mathematics materials (Lewis et al., under review). The study found a significant impact on instruction (e.g, increased use of students’ mathematical ideas) and on student mathematics learning and perseverance. However, study attrition was high. Study Two focused on building school contexts that would support teachers’ ongoing learning; 12 schools (in three school districts) were studied over 4 years as they sought to shift mathematics instruction to Teaching Through Problem-solving, using school-wide lesson study as the means to support teachers’ change in instruction.
Findings to be presented include:
• Analyses of classroom mathematics lessons indicating significant shift toward active mathematical problem-solving by students, along with video examples of instruction;
• Teacher interviews highlighting the challenges of change;
• Observational data on adaptations and contextual supports for success;
• Student achievement and attitude outcomes, indicating significant positive outcomes.

Author

• Catherine Lewis, Mills College