Can a Teaching Simulation Predict Novice and Expert Teachers' Decision Making?

• In Event: 72.049 - Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: 72.049-5 - Design and Study of Technology for Learning in Mathematics Education

Abstract

The primary goal of this paper is to investigate whether a computer-based simulation can detect the difference between novice and expert teachers’ decision-making in mathematics instruction, which is complex in nature. The design of the simulation is grounded in a sociological perspective on practical rationality of mathematics teaching. The simulation consists of classroom scenarios, in the forms of cartoon-based storyboards, with a series of decision moments to simulate the instructional situation of doing proofs in geometry. Empirical data helped verify and revise our design hypotheses/principles and showed that the simulation was able to detect some difference between novices’ and experts’ decision-making. Results of this study could inform the development of more advanced, computational models of mathematics teachers’ decision-making.

Authors

• Chieu Minh Vu, University of Michigan

• Nicolas Boileau, University of Michigan

• Mollee Changshu Shultz, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Amanda Marie Milewski, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Patricio G. Herbst, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor