Teachers’ Perceptions of Students When Observing Lessons Involving Challenging Tasks

Russo, James; Hopkins, Sarah

doi:10.1007/s10763-018-9888-9

Cited by 25 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Likewise, Russo et al found that teachers who had been exposed to professional learning around such problem-based approaches to learning mathematics had more positive attitudes towards struggle than teachers who had not participated in such professional learning [12]. This is consistent with other research that suggests that teacher endorsement of student struggle is potentially malleable if they are given opportunities to observe such approaches being effectively employed [14].…”

Section: The Importance Of Productive Struggle In Learning Mathematicsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Primary Teacher Attitudes towards Productive Struggle in Mathematics in Remote Learning versus Classroom-Based Settings

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Given what is known about the importance of productive struggle for supporting student learning of mathematics at all levels, the current study sought to examine teacher attitudes towards student struggle when students learn mathematics in remote learning settings compared with classroom settings. Eighty-two Australian early years primary teachers involved in a professional learning initiative focused on teaching mathematics through sequences of challenging tasks completed a questionnaire inviting them to compare the two settings. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, we found that teachers were more positive about the value of student struggle in classroom-based settings compared with remote learning settings. Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses revealed four themes capturing why teachers viewed efforts to support productive struggle in a remote learning setting as potentially problematic: absence of a teacher-facilitated, synchronous, learning environment; parents’ negative attitudes towards struggle when learning mathematics; lack of social connection and peer-to-peer collaboration; and difficulties accessing learning materials. Suggestions for mitigating some of these challenges in the future are put forward.

show abstract

Section: The Importance Of Productive Struggle In Learning Mathematicsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Primary Teacher Attitudes towards Productive Struggle in Mathematics in Remote Learning versus Classroom-Based Settings

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As outlined in Figure 1, it might also help to shift teachers away from the related belief that "Challenging tasks are mainly suitable for high-performing students"; a belief that is contradicted by studies that show consistent negative correlations between prior student performance and learning gains achieved during units of work built around challenging tasks, including in the early primary years (Gilbert et al, 2014;Russo, 2017). Such negative correlations in fact suggest that it is actually lowerperforming students who learn most when engaging with challenging tasks; and teachers who think otherwise might be confusing performance (e.g., the ability to 'finish' a task) with learning (Russo & Hopkins, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students Who Surprise Teachers When Learning Mathematics Through Problem Solving in the Early Primary Years

Russo

Bobis

Downton

et al. 2020

IJISME

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Teacher reluctance to teach mathematics through challenging tasks is frequently linked to beliefs that such approaches are not appropriate for students perceived as less mathematically capable. One potential means of shifting such beliefs is inviting teachers to reflect on students that surprise them when working on such tasks. Early years’ primary teachers (n = 160) participated in a professional learning initiative that supported them to implement up to ten sequences of challenging tasks in their classrooms across the school year. When asked to describe a student who surprised them when working on the sequences, approximately half (47%) of teachers described students previously assumed to be less mathematically capable being successful in their mathematical learning. Most remaining teachers (36%) commented on the depth of student mathematical thinking and positive learning dispositions demonstrated, without making any explicit reference to preconceptions of student capability. By contrast, a notable number of teachers (15%) instead described their surprise at how students labelled as mathematically capable struggled with working on tasks that were more open-ended, had multiple solutions, and required them to explain their reasoning. Our findings suggest that teaching with sequences of challenging tasks has the potential to disrupt rigid teacher preconceptions as to whom might be considered a mathematically capable student.

show abstract

“…Teachers-in particular, primary school teachers that are not usually mathematics specialists-are often afraid of the unpredictable outcomes of challenging problem solving activities and therefore they mostly promote routine tasks in their mathematics sessions (Russo and Hopkins 2019). It is no coincidence that students' suspension of sense making usually emerges as a result of an external intervention (by researchers, standardized assessments, etc.).…”

Section: Problem Word Problems Realism and Mathematical Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ suspension of sense making in problem solving

Carotenuto¹,

Martino

Lemmi

2021

ZDM Mathematics Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on mathematical problem solving has a long tradition: retracing its fascinating story sheds light on its intricacies and, therefore, on its needs. When we analyze this impressive literature, a critical issue emerges clearly, namely, the presence of words and expressions having many and sometimes opposite meanings. Significant examples are the terms ‘realistic’ and ‘modeling’ associated with word problems in school. Understanding how these terms are used is important in research, because this issue relates to the design of several studies and to the interpretation of a large number of phenomena, such as the well-known phenomenon of students’ suspension of sense making when they solve mathematical problems. In order to deepen our understanding of this phenomenon, we describe a large empirical and qualitative study focused on the effects of variations in the presentation (text, picture, format) of word problems on students’ approaches to these problems. The results of our study show that the phenomenon of suspension of sense making is more precisely a phenomenon of activation of alternative kinds of sense making: the different kinds of active sense making appear to be strongly affected by the presentation of the word problem.

show abstract

Teachers’ Perceptions of Students When Observing Lessons Involving Challenging Tasks

Cited by 25 publications

References 18 publications

Primary Teacher Attitudes towards Productive Struggle in Mathematics in Remote Learning versus Classroom-Based Settings

Primary Teacher Attitudes towards Productive Struggle in Mathematics in Remote Learning versus Classroom-Based Settings

Students Who Surprise Teachers When Learning Mathematics Through Problem Solving in the Early Primary Years

Students’ suspension of sense making in problem solving

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About