Page 50 - Children’s mathematical development and learning needs in perspective of teachers’ use of dynamic math interviews

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Chapter 2
Data collection
As part of a larger longitudinal research project, data of children and teachers were obtained on two measurement occasions: at the start of the school year (in September-October) (= T1) and at the end of the school year (in May-June) (= T2).
Teachers. The TSMKTQ and TSES were sent to the 31 participating teachers using the web-based questionnaire services of Formdesk (TSMKTQ and TSES). An email was sent with a direct link to the Formdesk questionnaires and the teachers were asked to complete the two questionnaires. This was done at the beginning and the end of the school year with two reminders sent on each occasion. Response rate was 100%; all collected data from the 31 teachers was thus included in subsequent analyses.
For purposes of observation (and video recording), the teachers were asked to teach as normal as possible in order to provide representative data. It was agreed that the topic of the lesson would be in the domain of fractions or proportions. In accordance with the procedure of Van de Grift et al. (2014), the ICALT+S observations were conducted by two trained observers. The training consisted of an explanation of the observation instrument, group discussions, and the rating of three video-recorded sample lessons. For each sample lesson, observers scored the 40 items from the ICALT+S along a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (= predominantly weak) to 4 (= predominantly strong). Observers who met the consensus norm of .70 or higher were judged to be sufficiently qualified. All of the observed mathematics lessons were also video recorded. The inter-rater reliability for live scoring was good (0.86). The first author conducted 65% of the observations; a fellow observer conducted the remaining observations.
On the same day as the ICALT observation of the teacher, data was collected from the children.
Children. The MMQC, TTA, and RAVEN were conducted using paper and pencil in the class, with one examiner giving instructions. The teacher remained in the classroom. Children were positioned in a test setup so that they were not able to copy from one another. The examiner remained in the classroom at all times to answer any questions. The procedure lasted approximately 65 minutes (excluding breaks, which were arranged for the children and taken periodically).