Page 134 - Children’s mathematical development and learning needs in perspective of teachers’ use of dynamic math interviews

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Chapter 4
the child in his or her own mathematical development (Allsopp et al., 2008; Bannink, 2010; Lee & Johnston-Wilder, 2013; Pellegrino et al., 2001). The tool was aimed at supporting teachers’ diagnostic skills and mathematical knowledge for teaching (Hill et al., 2008; Hoth et al., 2016).
To summarize, the teacher professional development program in the present study was based on the aforementioned characteristics of effective professional development; this may have contributed to the positive effect of the program on the quality of dynamic math interviews.
Relationships between the intervention and teacher factors
As had been expected, findings show that the intervention had an effect on actual mathematics teaching behavior and perceived mathematics teaching self-efficacy and mathematical knowledge for teaching. The intervention where teachers conducted dynamic math interviews with fourth grade children to better understand their reasoning and understanding, preconceptions, misconceptions, strategies, math experiences, emotions, strengths and needs, was positively related to advanced aspects of mathematics teaching.
Firstly, the effects of the intervention on teaching behavior during mathematics lessons were seen on all scales of actual mathematics teaching (‘Activating learning’, ‘Differentiation and adapting lesson’, ‘Teaching and learning strategies’, and ‘Math-specific teaching strategies’). The effects were significant on the more complex teaching behaviors ‘Differentiation and adapting lesson’ and ‘Teaching and learning strategies’ (e.g., Van der Lans et al., 2018). The effect was also significant on the supplemental scale -- ‘Math-specific teaching strategies’ – another complex teaching behavior. This supplemental observation instrument, specifically addressing mathematics teaching, was closely related to other aspects, such as the use of representations and attention to solving processes and metacognitive skills. Because of this, teaching behaviors, especially those at an advanced level, improved in this study. This was in line with the work of Porter et al. (2000). In their study, transfer of the teacher professional development program was most often seen in more complex teaching strategies when