Page 191 - Children’s mathematical development and learning needs in perspective of teachers’ use of dynamic math interviews

(or not meeting) the math learning needs of the child may have been missed. In other words, the use of both quantitative and qualitative measurement instruments can be recommended for future research.
Finally, the last measurement of the teacher and child factors examined in the present research was shortly after the intervention practice period. For example, the timespan between the conduct of the interview and testing of the child, which varied between 2 to 6 weeks depending on the teachers’ agenda was (too) short. The teaching of mathematics is known to be quite complicated and to require teachers to adapt their mathematics lessons to the — often quite divergent — needs of the children in their classrooms (Ball et al., 2008; Forgasz & Cheeseman, 2015).
Dynamic math interviews were shown to improve mathematics teaching behavior and anything else but not children’s mathematics learning. Follow-up research is therefore recommended to examine the maintenance of the positive effects found for actual mathematics teaching behavior, mathematical knowledge for teaching and mathematics teaching self-efficacy but also the possibility of promoting children’s mathematical development after all.
Conclusions and implications for actual practice
The research reported on here emphasizes the importance of establishing a solid mathematical foundation in the years leading up to elementary school grade 4 (see Byrnes & Wasik, 2009; Duncan et al., 2007; Hiebert & Grouws, 2007). Increased attention to the building of a solid mathematical foundation is therefore needed in actual teaching practice. This can be done by expanding, refining, and deepening children’s conceptual understanding, factual knowledge and procedural skill. To do so, teachers could for example help children to understand which concepts are key, how to flexibly adapt previous experience to new transfer problems, offer various practice opportunities. Teachers can stimulate advanced mathematical problem-solving ability by helping children acquire the required skills, which may include: identification of relevant information and key words after the reading
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Summary and general discussion
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