Designing open-ended problems to challenge preservice teachers' views on mathematics and pedagogy

This study examines preservice elementary teachers' reported experiences of posing open-ended mathematics problems. Responses of 33 students in a mathematics teacher education course were analysed for the strategies participants used, what they learned and the challenges encountered from an opportunity to collect digital images and pose open-ended problems related to those images. Results indicate that preservice teachers reported a shift in the ways they viewed mathematics and how it might be taught. The school curriculum both constrained and provided possibilities for preservice teachers in noticing mathematics beyond the textbook and mathematics classroom. This study adds to our understanding of teaching as a learning practice and the art of posing mathematical problems as a significant aspect of that practice.

Expert teachers’ discursive moves in science classroom interactive talk

It is well established that teacher-student interactive talk is critically important in supporting students to reason and learn in science. Teachers’ discursive moves in responding to student input are keys to developing and supporting a rich vein of interactive discussion. While initiation-response-evaluation (IRE) sequences have been shown to dominate science classroom discourse patterns worldwide, teacher ‘prompts’ are important for opening up opportunities for reasoning and higher level learning. This paper describes the analysis of video sequences for five expert elementary teachers across three countries to develop a coding scheme for these teachers’ ‘discursive moves’ to guide and respond to student inputs, that unpacks more completely the strategies they use to develop interactive discussion. The analysis showed varied patterns of knowledge transaction, with teacher discursive moves serving three broad purposes: to elicit and acknowledge student responses, to clarify and to extend student ideas. The patterns of talk were also related to the dialogic-authoritative distinction in analysis of talk, to show that this distinction is only clear for particular types of expert practice. While the particular moves teachers use vary across parts of lessons we argue that they are revealing of teachers’ particular beliefs and of systemic constraints, and that there exist patterns in the use of the discursive categories that capture how expert teachers build deeper level knowledge in classroom interactive talk. We describe ways in which the analysis can inform science teacher education and the professional learning of teachers of science.

What are grade 5 and 6 children buying from school canteens and what do parents and teachers think about it?

Objective: The foods sold in school canteens have a significant role to play in ensuring children consume a healthy balance of nutritious foods. However, no research to date has described the foods that Australian children are purchasing at school canteens, or the perceptions held about school canteens by students, teachers and parents.
Design: An exploratory cross-sectional survey was used to obtain information from students, parents and teachers through self completion questionnaires.
Subjects: There were 384 children aged nine to 12 years, 404 parents and 41 teachers involved.
Settings: The study was conducted in 12 primary schools in Victoria, Australia.
Main outcome measures: Types of foods purchased at school canteens, school canteen usage, parents' and teachers' perceptions of the role of the school and canteen in influencing children's eating habits.
Results: More than 50% of the children surveyed used the school canteen at least once per week. Children identified preference for unhealthy alternatives and availability as key barriers to choosing healthy foods at the canteen and suggested increased availability, advertisements and cost reductions as aids to purchasing healthy foods. Teachers placed more importance on the role of the canteen than parents did.
Statistical analyses: Frequencies, cross-tabulation analyses and chi square tests were undertaken using the SPSS 11 computer program.
Conclusions: These Victorian primary school children and their teachers, and to a lesser extent parents, had a clear understanding of healthy foods. Children and teachers identified barriers that prevent school canteens
from providing healthy foods. There is likely to be strong support from these stakeholders for novel health promoting policies.

'The C Words': clitorises, childhood and challenging compulsory heterosexuality discourses with pre-service primary teachers

This paper reports on accidental ethnographic research. It arose unexpectedly out of the everyday teaching of first-year pre-service primary teachers at an Australian university. Via narrative, self-reflexivity, and student responses, we explore the interwoven workings of heteronormative, gendernormative and misogynist discourses when a chapter from Queering Elementary Education in the Course Reader created controversy, moral panic and resistance among students. The paper then charts the implementation of various strategies and interventions by the three authors of the paper: Greg, the lecturer; Maria, the Reading's author; and Steph, the Reading's protagonist. While outlining the subsequent shifts in student responses and discourses, we also problematise particular aspects of the processes of intervention where they still point to the insidious power and overarching framework of heteronormativity and gendernormativity that require ongoing challenges.

Talking culture? Egalitarianism, color-blindness and racism in Australian elementary schools

This study examines egalitarianism as an ethnic-racial socialization message used by teachers with 8-12 year old children in four socio-demographically diverse elementary schools in Melbourne, Australia. The three main types of egalitarian messages identified are i) procedural-justice color-blindness, ii) distributive-justice color-blindness and iii) colormuteness, and each is explored in relation to how teachers talk to children about racial, ethnic and cultural diversity, and racism. We conclude that teacher confidence and capability, and to a lesser degree, school context, influenced the types of egalitarian messages used about diversity and the extent to which teachers had explicit and critical discussions about racism.

Adapting the task : what preservice teachers notice when adapting mathematical tasks

This paper reports on an in-depth study that explores preservice teachers’ pedagogical adaptations to a rich mathematical task. Data were collected from six elementary preservice teachers working in pairs to first solve a mathematics problem and then design adaptations to make the problem more accessible and more challenging for diverse learners. Results indicate that preservice teachers are able to draw upon a range of strategies to vary the mathematical content, the context, and the question asked. However, they also did not notice or attend to how their adaptations changed the mathematical structure of the problem. This study provides insights into what is involved in learning to adapt classroom mathematical tasks as an important pedagogical practice.

An investigation of the question-types teachers use to elicit information from children

Background: Teachers are required to report suspected child abuse in many parts of the world, but there is a paucity of research characterising how they question children about wrongdoing. Aims: Because children often speak to multiple people before arriving at a forensic interview it is critical to understand how untrained teachers question children. Sample and Methods: Teachers (n = 47) completed a mock interview, written quiz, and rated their expected performance. Results: In both the interview and quiz, teachers asked few open and many leading questions. Yet, they asked proportionally more open and fewer leading questions on the quiz than during the interview, demonstrating an implicit awareness of good questioning. Holding a higher education level degree was associated with asking fewer questions overall, and fewer leading questions, during the mock interview. Higher perceptions of performance after the mock interview were associated with having asked more open and more specific questions. Conclusions: Overall, teachers asked fewer open questions than desired but also demonstrated some awareness of good interviewing skill. We review the teachers' performance by highlighting the positive aspects of their interviewing skills, identifying areas for improvement, and making suggestions for enhancing teachers' abilities to question children about wrongdoing. Copyright © Australian Psychological Society Ltd 2014.

Figured worlds of citizenship: examining differences made in “making a difference” in an elementary school classroom

This article explores how two elementary school students responded to their teacher’s invitation in a civic classroom to make a difference to the world. We consider how the teacher framed the construct of civic efficacy and how the students refracted these ideas in their navigation of a civic education project. Closely analyzing these students’ experiences and responses, we question what differences are made when students are encouraged to think of themselves as citizens who can make a difference. Noting dissonances and ambivalences in the students’ responses, the conceptual resources of “figured worlds” enable an analysis of the interplay of discourses, interactions, sensory experiences, and material artifacts as civic identities are constituted. The two students’ differing responses are analyzed in relation to other figured worlds that students and teachers daily negotiate: of compliant citizenship, productive citizenship, and consumer citizenship. The overlaps, dissonances, and/or divergences in discourses and artifacts from various figured worlds of citizenship render some students more recognizable as civically “engaged” and “efficacious” than others.

Gender issues in elementary mathematics teaching materials: a comparative study between China and Australia

International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) cross-national studies (FIMS, SIMS and TIMSS) show that gender differences in mathematical achievements and attitudes have decreased considerably over thirty years (Hanna, 2000), however, mathematics is still historically stereotyped as a male domain with crucial evidence supporting this belief (Forgasz, Leder, & Kloosterman, 2009). Previous research showed that gender differences in mathematics participation,performance and achievement existed widely in the majority of English speaking countries, specifically favouring boys (Forgasz, 1992; Hyde, Fennema, & Lamon, 1990; Tiedemann, 2000). Hyde, Lindberg, Linn, Ellis and Williams (2008) pointed out that the stereotype that females lack mathematical ability persists and is widely held by parents and teachers.Mathematics teaching materials play an important role in mathematics teaching and learning. The contents within mathematical teaching materials are rational, and deliver both explicit and implicit information. The explicit information refers to mathematics knowledge that students can learn from textbooks, while the latter one, also named as hidden curriculum, contains social and cultural messages. Hidden curriculum is a side effect of education. It has deep and long-term influences on students’ construction of math-gender stereotype that impact their future mathematicallearning (Zhang & Zhou, 2008). Therefore, this study will investigate Chinese andAustralian elementary mathematics teaching materials to explore the messages of gender equity and inequity delivered through hidden curriculum including names, images and problem-solving contexts. Based on the findings, practical implications concerning the promotion of equitable gender environments within elementary mathematics teaching materials from a cross-cultural perspective will be discussed.

Relationships with special needs students: exploring primary teachers' descriptions

Positive teacher-student relationships play an established role in the developmental outcomes of students. Ongoing research suggests that positive teacher-student relationships may be particularly beneficial for students with special educational needs [Baker, J. A. 2006. "Contributions of Teacher-Child Relationships to Positive School Adjustment During Elementary School."Journal of School Psychology 44 (3): 211-229]. However, particular learning and behavioural characteristics are known to pose certain challenges when developing these relationships. For instance, teachers may have difficulty in forming close relationships with students who behave in a hostile way. Likewise, they might feel stressed with students who take longer to learn material [Baker 2006; Yoon, J. S. 2002. "Teacher Characteristics as Predictors of Teacher-Student Relationships: Stress, Negative Affect and Self Efficacy." Social Behaviour and Personality 30: 485-494]. This study conducted a focus group with six mainstream teachers from a primary school in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne to investigate the following questions: (1) How do primary school teachers describe their relationships with special needs students? (2) Are these descriptions substantively different from the way in which relationships with non-special needs students are described? And (3) what, if any, are teachers' reported concerns with inclusive education practice? Thematic analysis provided three primary themes and nine secondary themes, indicating that in the context of inclusive practices, the quality of teacher-student relationships is affected by a combination of psychosocial factors. In concurrence with previous literature, the use of qualitative methodology was considered optimal for exploring teachers' descriptions.