Strategies of Making Coherent Instruction in China: A Case of Teaching Systems of Linear Equations

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  In Poster Session: Teachers in Action: Lessons Learned From Compelling STEM Educational Practices

Abstract

This study examined the features of instructional coherence by analyzing 15 consecutive videotaped lessons of teaching systems of linear equations in China. It was found that the Chinese teacher made instructional coherence using four strategies. First, making thematic connections provides a prerequisite for delivering coherent instruction. Second, having a uniform instruction structure (i.e., review, introducing new knowledge, practicing new knowledge, summary and assignment) provides a mechanism of unfolding a lesson smoothly. Third, selecting and using mathematical tasks deliberatively and systematically, help students to develop concepts and skills based on their previous knowledge, and to clarify and consolidate the learned knowledge. Moreover, overarching mathematical thinking and methods foster students’ development of an interconnected knowledge structure.

Authors

• Rongjin Huang, Middle Tennessee State University

• Yeping Li, Texas A&M University