Abstract

This paper explores the relationships between student participation in classroom conversations, teacher practices, and student learning in elementary school mathematics classrooms. Six teachers and 111 children aged 8–10 participated in the study. Students and teachers were videotaped as they discussed how to solve mathematical problems during whole-class and small-group discussions. The results show that the level of student engagement with each other's ideas and the incidence of students providing detailed explanations of their problem-solving strategies were positively related to student achievement. While teachers used a variety of instructional practices to encourage students to attend to and engage with each other's thinking, how teachers followed up on their initial moves was important for whether students engaged with others’ ideas at a high level.

Citation

Webb, N.M., Franke, M.L., Ing, M., Wong, J., Fernandez, C.H., Shin, N. & Turrou, A.C. (2014). Engaging with others’ mathematical ideas: Interrelationships among student participation, teachers’ instructional practices, and learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 63(1), 79-93. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved August 16, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/203557/.

Keywords

• Classroom dialog
• student learning
• teacher practices