The Use of Videos and Classroom Artefacts in Professional Development of Teachers and Teacher Educators in Indonesia

This study is grounded on adaptations of Realistic Mathematics Education, Lesson Study and design-based research in Indonesian classroom contexts. Design-based research has gained currency in educational research over the past decade due to its strength to bridge the divide between theoretical research and educational practice in naturalistic settings. Design-based approaches involve a process of designing mathematical tasks, observing the enacted design in classrooms and reflecting on the process from analysing the classroom artefacts. Video plays a central role in supporting teachers and teacher educators to study and reflect on students’ mathematical thinking and in capturing the dynamic of classroom teaching and learning process. This chapter will examine and analyse practitioners’ lenses in capturing the dynamic and complexity of classroom mathematical learning using video vignettes and classroom artefacts including digital photos of classroom moments and students’ work. Practitioners’ lenses are taken as a window to capture key teaching and learning moments from the lessons. Analysis of this selection of these video vignettes along with other classroom artefacts based on practitioners’lenses provides insights into practitioners’ views on key teaching and learning moments in mathematics lessons.

Reduced motor imagery efficiency is associated with online control difficulties in children with probable developmental coordination disorder

Recent evidence indicates that the ability to correct reaching movements in response to unexpected target changes (i.e., online control) is reduced in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Recent computational modeling of human reaching suggests that these inefficiencies may result from difficulties generating and/or monitoring internal representations of movement. This study was the first to test this putative relationship empirically. We did so by investigating the degree to which the capacity to correct reaching mid-flight could be predicted by motor imagery (MI) proficiency in a sample of children with probable DCD (pDCD). Thirty-four children aged 8 to 12 years (17 children with pDCD and 17 age-matched controls) completed the hand rotation task, a well-validated measure of MI, and a double-step reaching task (DSRT), a protocol commonly adopted to infer one's capacity for correcting reaching online. As per previous research, children with pDCD demonstrated inefficiencies in their ability to generate internal action representations and correct their reaching online, demonstrated by inefficient hand rotation performance and slower correction to the reach trajectory following unexpected target perturbation during the DSRT compared to age-matched controls. Critically, hierarchical moderating regression demonstrated that even after general reaching ability was controlled for, MI efficiency was a significant predictor of reaching correction efficiency, a relationship that was constant across groups. Ours is the first study to provide direct pilot evidence in support of the view that a decreased capacity for online control of reaching typical of DCD may be associated with inefficiencies generating and/or using internal representations of action.

Contact lens fitting and training in a child and youth population

PURPOSE: To determine the ease with which children and youths without previous soft contact lens (SCL) experience were able to handle, care for, adapt and be fitted with SCLs. METHODS: 179 children aged 8-16 were recruited. Study visits included: screening and training visits, 1-week and 3-month follow-ups. During the training visit, the time taken to demonstrate proficiency in lens insertion and removal and care was recorded. A second training visit was scheduled if necessary. RESULTS: Nine children did not complete the screening visit and eight discontinued during the study. Of those eight, seven discontinued during the first week and one before the 3-month visit. Of those recruited, 90.5% (162/179) were successfully fitted and completed the study. A majority of children were dispensed with lenses at the first training visit (94.6%, 162/171). The mean training time for all children was 30min. There were no statistically significant differences in the number of lenses required to fit or instruction time by age group (p>0.05) or gender (p>0.05). Nine participants (5.3%, 9/171) required a second training visit with four still unable to handle lenses (2.3%, 4/171). By the 1-week visit 13.2% (22/167) of participants either lost or tore lenses, no subsequent lost or torn lenses occurred. No serious adverse events occurred during the study. CONCLUSION: Children and youths with no previous contact lens experience were easily fitted, able to successfully wear and care for lenses. The results of this study should encourage practitioners to recommend SCLs as a vision correction option.

After 30 years of dissemination, have we achieved sustained practice change in motivational interviewing?

AIMS: Motivational interviewing (MI) is the most successfully disseminated evidence-based practice in the substance use disorder (SUD) treatment field. This systematic review considers two questions relevant to policymakers and service providers: (1) does training in MI achieve sustained practice change in clinicians delivering SUD treatment; and (2) do clinicians achieve a level of competence after training in MI that impacts upon client outcomes? METHODS: A systematic review was conducted and reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, examining training outcomes for MI in the SUD treatment sector, and for clinicians working in a SUD treatment role. We determined a training method to have resulted in sustained practice change when over 75% of participants met beginning proficiency in MI spirit at a follow-up time-point. RESULTS: Of the 20 studies identified, 15 measured training at a follow-up time-point using standard fidelity measures. The proportion of clinicians who reached beginning proficiency was either reported or calculated for 11 of these studies. Only two studies met our criterion of 75% of clinicians achieving beginning proficiency in MI spirit after training. Of the 20 studies identified, two measured client substance use outcomes with mixed results. CONCLUSIONS: A broad range of training studies failed to achieve sustained practice change in MI according to our criteria. It is unlikely that 75% of clinicians can achieve beginning proficiency in MI spirit after training unless competency is benchmarked and monitored and training is ongoing. The impact of training on client outcomes requires future examination.

Who's counting? Legitimating measurement in the audit culture

What gives legitimacy to the numbers that constitute the measurement techniques of the audit culture? We argue that the audit culture’s blind application of numbers to people as if there was no moral or ethical dimension to the calculation rests on a military discourse resi-dent in mathematics. This argument is based on the genealogy presented in this paper, which uncovers a regime of measurement-by-number, sedimented as legitimate through an associa-tion with military power. We claim that this military measurement-by-number is a dubious technique of government on which the audit culture relies for its highly questionable authori-ty.

Two of everything: developing functional thinking in the primary grades through children's literature

Traditionally algebra has been regarded as the domain of the secondary school years in Australia and many other countries. Non-mathematics teachers, parents and students often narrowly regard algebra as the manipulation of symbols adhering to tightly prescribed rules (Serow, Callingham & Muir, 2013). It is now recognised, however, that foundational ideas associated with algebraic thinking can, and should be, included in mathematics curricula in the pre-school and primary years (Bobis, Mulligan & Lowrie, 2009). This stance is reflected in the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (Australian Curriculum Assessment & Reporting Authority, 2012) which extends key algebraic ideas to patterns and generalisations, and acknowledges that number and algebra are developed together as each enriches the study of the other. This article explores the concept of functional thinking and demonstrates how the story, ‘Two of Everything’ (Hong, 1993) is employed as a springboard for developing functional thinking with students from the early years through to upper primary schooling.

Online professional learning for rural teachers of mathematics and science

Professional learning is crucial for the ongoing development of teachers and the improvement of student outcomes. Professional learning in mathematics and science education has the potential to address concerns about shortages in these areas and their impact on economic growth. However, attendance at face-to-face professional learning is problematic for many teachers located in rural areas. This study explores the utilisation of online professional learning in mathematics and science education by teachers in rural areas, and canvasses teachers’ requirements for this form of professional learning. An activity system, using cultural-historical activity theory, is developed for online professional learning for teachers of mathematics and/or science. Qualitative interpretive analysis of transcripts of 14 semi-structured individual interviews with three different groups of people suggests that teachers of mathematics/science require professional learning programs which are not only flexibly delivered but also provide professional learning content that has high utility value. By better understanding how teachers respond to the notion and practice of online professional learning, informed decisions can be made about how best to support teachers and thus build capacity in schools for success in mathematics and science.

A collaborative development of quality mathematics assessment tasks to promote preservice teachers’ professional eye

The Mathematics Teacher Education Collective (MTEC) — a self-study group based at the University of British Columbia, Canada — collaborates to enhance our pedagogical practice in mathematics teacher education through analysing, constructing, and reflecting on variations to assessment tasks. The theoretical framework underlying the establishment of the MTEC is based on Lave and Wenger’s (1991) view of learning through a Community of Practice (CoP). “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger-Trayner, 2011, http://wenger-trayner.com/theory/). Three characteristics are viewed as crucial to the CoP: domain, community, and practice. The shared domain for MTEC is a commitment to gaining a deeper understanding of practice as mathematics teacher educators. In particular, as members we are interested in better understanding the role and development of tasks for learning to teach mathematics. As a community MTEC engages “in joint activities and discussions, [that] help each other, and share information” (Wenger-Trayner, 2011, http://wenger-trayner.com/theory/), with the goal to build relationships that provide members with opportunities to learn from one other. MTEC members are practitioners in the field. The success of the MTEC is based on the sharing, evaluation and critical reflection of assessment tasks and pedagogical approaches refined by the CoP.

The Victorian Certificate of Education - a gendered affair?

Drawing on data from the Victorian Certificate of Education (1994- 1999), this paper examines whether gender differences in Mathematics still exist. The discussion is developed in the context of ongoing debates about girls' and boys' comparative performance, and about modification in Year 11 and 12 curriculum and assessment. The paper identifies some of the subtle issues that lie behind the statistics, and school to work inequalities that continue to exist.

Developing formal mathematical assessment for 4-to-8-year-olds

The assessment of children in their years before school and their first years of school has been, traditionally, informal. Further, assessment of children's mathematical skills at this level has been infrequent compared to social, emotional and physical assessments. However, there are contexts where reliable, valid, standardised data from assessment in mathematics are required. This paper outlines the development of two assessment tools for mathematics that were originally developed for such contexts. Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses enabled the construction of assessment forms that address the range of abilities of 4- to 8-year-old children, and provided the scales used for constructing formative and summative reports of achievement. A description of the development of the assessment tools and the IRT analysis that provides the reporting formats are presented together with some research uses of the tools.

"Hey, I'm learning this"

The article offers a look at the benefits, as well as the negative impact, of using games in mathematics education. The views of teachers on the benefits of using games in teaching mathematics are explored. Information on the guestimate calculator game is provided. Details of a study on the use of guestimate game on Year 5 and 6 students is presented.

Teachers' pre-conceptions of young children's conceptions of number

This paper uses data from several sources to argue that while teachers of young children are reasonably accurate in their predictions of when the majority of children will achieve mastery of specific objectives in mathematics, they are much less likely 10 be aware of the conceptions of high achieving children, and that, as a result, their classroom activities constrain these students' learning.

Alternative learning trajectories

Lesson planning usually involves the generation of a hypothetical learning trajectory. This paper illustrates a teaching strategy that is one focus of a major research project. Alternative learning trajectories with different entry level prompts were used to enable students to access the concepts and procedures necessary for their joining the main learning trajectory. The strategy is being trialled in primary classrooms that have a large proportion of lower SES students, with the aim of maximising success in mathematics for all students.

Integrating errors into developmental assessment: 'time' for ages 8-13

It is widely agreed that measurement is of paramount importance to students’ overall development in mathematics. This paper describes a developmental ‘map’ of students’ understanding and skills in measurement, focussed on the topic of Time, that integrates correct and incorrect student ideas. The map is based on a Rasch analysis of data from a large-scale UK national survey for standardising assessment for children from 5 to 14 years of age. It is demonstrated how a partial credit strategy enables a developmental map to be constructed to show students’ strengths and weaknesses in a meaningful and useful summative and formative manner. This map provides evidence, of both a summative and a formative nature, which may enable teachers to craft appropriate and successful learning experiences for children.

Student-engineered 'space to think'

The nature of creative and insightful thinking of Year 8 students in mathematics classes was studied through simultaneous examination of post-lesson video stimulated interviews and lesson video. One case is used to illustrate these findings. The concept of Space to Think emerged as a space manoeuvred by each of the five (out of eighty-six) students from Australia and the USA who creatively developed new knowledge. This Space to Think illuminates pedagogical moves that provide opportunities for creative thinking.