An Investigation of Teachers' Mathematical Subject Knowledge and the Processes of Instruction in Reception Classes
Titel:
An Investigation of Teachers' Mathematical Subject Knowledge and the Processes of Instruction in Reception Classes
Auteur:
Aubrey, Carol
Verschenen in:
British educational research journal
Paginering:
Jaargang 22 (1996) nr. 2 pagina's 181-197
Jaar:
1996-04
Inhoud:
This paper forms the last in a series of four papers which has described the way mathematical knowledge is presented and the way it is understood by teachers and children in reception classes. The aim here is to explore the co-ordination and utilisation of teacher and pupil knowledge in the complex world of reception classrooms by following four such classrooms across the school year. An in-depth analysis of a sample of five lessons from each of the four teachers concerned is provided as well as an account of their own reported experiences of learning mathematics, and their planning, teaching and assessing of mathematics in children's reception year, obtained from subsequent interview. Consideration of the mathematical knowledge, skills and competences of a sample of 10 children from each setting is also made. Both interviews and informal discussions which took place during the year suggested that teachers' understanding of their pupils was an accumulated, contextualised knowledge derived from experience of children's particular responses to particular curriculum tasks in particular contexts rather than from formal assessment procedures. Teachers spent most of their time observing and assessing, coaching, guiding and correcting small group, mathematical tasks which encouraged active learning. This was made possible by the range of choice and flexibility available in other classroom activities in three of the four settings and by a generous staff-pupil ratio in the fourth. The tasks presented allowed teachers to assess the extent to which children could answer questions about content and apply knowledge strategically. Knowledge construction appeared to be a dynamic process generated in response to particular learning experiences and to situational demands. Task demand, in fact, was changed in the process of tutoring and guiding and in the 'scaffolding' of children's responses. The range and depth of teachers' own subject knowledge and the diversity in observed practice raises some important questions with respect to teachers' pedagogical subject knowledge and, more specifically, to its influence of the content and processes of mathematical instruction.
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