Page 123 - Children’s mathematical development and learning needs in perspective of teachers’ use of dynamic math interviews

Effect of dynamic math interviews on mathematics teaching
(Janssen et al., 2005). The teachers received the same instruction before the pretest and posttest. They were asked to conduct a math interview in a fashion they considered adequate.
We developed a theory-based coding book to analyze pretest and posttest transcripts based on Mayring’s qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2015). The following nine aspects of dynamic assessment that contribute to the quality and effectiveness of a dynamic math interview were analyzed. The total number of questions per aspect was counted.
1) Questions focused on child’s math experiences, beliefs and emotions.
The teacher can ask questions that widen the scope of the dynamic math interview, such as ‘What do you like the most about mathematics lessons? What kinds of mathematical problems do you find hard? How does it feel when you successfully solve a problem?’ (Allsopp et al., 2008; Bannink, 2010; Ginsburg, 1997).
2) Questions focused on child’s thinking and solving processes. The teacher can pose process-oriented questions such as ‘How did you solve this mathematical problem? Tell me.’ (e.g., Allsopp et al., 2008; Ginsburg, 1997, 2009).
3) Questions to identify a) child’s mathematics needs in general, with active input of the child’s own voice b) child’s instructional needs and c) child’s needs regarding content and methods. The teacher can ask questions to identify child’s math learning needs, such as ‘What do you need to practice the multiplication tables?’ The questions could have a solution-focused character designed to elicit student’s voice, e.g., ‘What is your next aim in learning mathematics? What do you need to reach that goal? How can you be helped to solve these mathematical problems?’ (Bannink, 2010; Lee & Johnston-Wilder, 2013).
4) Questions to check whether the child knows the right answer. These questions are product-oriented, designed to assess the correctness of the child’s answer. Although correctness of answers is important, obtaining process information must prevail for the reason that standardized tests even though focused at products (Franke et al., 2001).
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