Examining Teacher Knowledge and Classroom Practices During Inquiry Teaching on the Equal Sign

• In Event: Counting on Us: Stretching Our Pedagogical Boundaries in Mathematics Teacher Education

Abstract

The authors examined the practices of six elementary teachers as they implemented inquiry-based lessons on mathematical equivalence. The objective was to identify the teachers’ challenges and potential reasons for their difficulties. The videotaped lessons were coded for specific actions in response to student statements. Interviews were conducted to capture teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about inquiry teaching. Results revealed that the teachers often lost opportunities to ask specific questions that would uncover student reasoning, and they presented few appropriate challenges in response to students’ conceptual difficulties. The findings are explained in part by the teachers’ tendency to fall back on “telling” the meaning of the equal sign as well as by superficial understandings of the goals of inquiry teaching.

Authors

• Helena P. Osana, Concordia University

• Allyson Cooperman, Concordia University

• Emmanuelle Adrien, Concordia University

• Vanessa Rayner, Concordia University

• Jeffrey Bisanz, University of Alberta

• Rebecca Watchorn, University of Alberta

• Jody Sherman LeVos, LeapFrog