Page 21 - Children’s mathematical development and learning needs in perspective of teachers’ use of dynamic math interviews

The role of dynamic math interviews
Individual differences in children’s mathematics learning are clearly noticeable but nevertheless call for teachers who can meet a variety of math learning needs and thus constitute a major challenge for many elementary school teachers (Charalambous, 2015). Understanding children’s math learning needs is a prerequisite for adapting one’s teaching to the needs of children (Deunk et al., 2018; Hoth et al., 2016). To date, mostly standardized, norm-referenced, and product-focused testing has been used to identify and gain insight into math learning needs (Bodi, 2017). It is increasingly being recognized, however, that more formative assessment is called for to provide more process- focused, supplemental information on children’s math learning needs (Ginsburg, 2009; Veldhuis et al., 2013). And one such form of formative assessment is the so-called dynamic math interview.
Dynamic math interviews
A dynamic math interview is a semi-structured dialogue between the teacher and children with a process-oriented character to be used in a variety of mathematics domains to identify and understand specific learning needs. The teacher gathers and analyzes information about the child’s understanding of a specific learning goal to then provide supplemental instruction or some other form of support to help the child meet the learning goal (Black & William, 2009; Ginsburg, 1997, 2009). In such an individual interview, teachers can assess achievement levels, underlying knowledge, skills, learning potential, beliefs, and emotions related to mathematics (Allsopp et al., 2008; Ginsburg, 1997, 2009; Pellegrino et al., 2001; Van Luit, 2019). In interaction with the child, the teacher actively involves the child to attain responses and thereby see things from the child’s point of view to identify how they can best meet the child’s math learning needs (Lee & Johnston-Wilder, 2013). The interview is support-oriented and solution-oriented. This support/solution orientation is reflected in questions aimed at actively stimulating the child to think about math learning strengths, future goals, and the type of support needed to obtain these goals (Allsopp et al., 2008; Bannink, 2010; Ginsburg, 2009; Ketterlin-Geller & Yovanoff, 2009). The dynamic math interview supplements standardized norm-
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General introduction
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