Page 151 - Children’s mathematical development and learning needs in perspective of teachers’ use of dynamic math interviews

Dynamic math interviews to identify children’s math learning needs
Method
Study design and participant selection
Data on children’s mathematical development and teachers’ actual mathematics teaching behavior were collected at the starts (T1) and ends (T2) of two consecutive school year. Year 1 constituted a control condition. Year 2, in which a dynamic math interview teacher professional development program was conducted followed by a practice period, constituted the experimental condition (see Figure 1).
Aug-Sep T1
Aug-Sep Oct
Year 1: control group
Mathematics taught as usual June T2
Year 2: experimental group
Nov-mid Feb Feb March-mid June June
T1
Individual feedback on a conducted DMI
Teacher professional development program
Individual feedback on a conducted DMI
Practice period Individual data collection for each teacher with one child showing low mathematics achievement
T2
Figure 1 The Research Design
Note: DMI = Dynamic Math Interview.
Participants were recruited by open invitations via social media (Twitter) and direct mail (school principals and fourth grade teachers). An information meeting was held for interested teachers in two regions of the Netherlands and 23 teachers from 22 different schools agreed to participate in the end. Nineteen of these teachers, who conducted a dynamic math interview with a child showing low mathematics achievement, were involved in this study. The teachers were given printed information about the study and a factsheet about the data collection methods.
The 23 participating teachers were asked to identify children showing low mathematics achievement (i.e., scores below the 20th percentile on a criterion-based standardized Dutch national test) (Cito; Janssen et al., 2005). This was done for years 1 and 2 (different classes, same teachers). The mean score on this mathematics test for the entire group of children being taught by the 23 participating teachers in the
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