Page 169 - 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
take advantage of the teacher’s response was only scored as an overall impression within our analytic framework. More in-depth exploration and specification of teacher responding is thus needed (Empson & Jacobs, 2008).
Additional research is called for on the interrelations between math interviewing competence and mathematics teaching competence (and vice versa). We expect the proficient conduct of dynamic math interviews to help teachers identify the specific math learning needs of children and subsequently incorporate this information into their daily teaching practices to become better teachers. This will include, for example: more responsive listening and provision of suitable support, more attention to the mathematical problem-solving processes which children need to use and more involvement of children in determining and meeting their math learning needs (e.g., Deunk et al., 2018; Gersten et al., 2009).
A clear limitation on the present study is the relatively small sample size. This is nevertheless common in studies with detailed, qualitative coding of behavior and child-teacher interactions. But caution should be exercised when attempting to generalize the results to other settings, problems, and/or populations. Another possible limitation is that the last measurement was taken shortly after the conducted dynamic math interviews. An adjustment of the planning of the intervention over time is recommended.
The present study is a first attempt to analyze the adequacy and potential benefits of using dynamic math interviews with elementary school children (in this study: children known to have low mathematics achievement). Replication and expansion to include more teachers and a wider variety of children is therefore welcome.
Implications for practice
Dynamic math interviews proved useful for gaining insight into the mathematical thinking and problem-solving processes of children but also their math beliefs, emotions, fears, and the types of support needed in learning mathematics. With the competent use of a dynamic math interview, as found in the present study, teachers may be better able to attune the support which they provide to the individual child’s zone of
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