The use of a scriptwriting task as a window into how prospective teachers envision teacher moves for supporting student reasoning

Abstract

The development of mathematical reasoning skills has increasingly been of focus for the teaching and learning of mathematics. This research utilizes a teaching simulation using the methodology of scriptwriting, in which prospective teachers are asked to complete a script of a dialogue from a classroom simulation involving fraction multiplication and division with justification, assisting fictional students to work through their difficulties and helping them to justify their reasoning. Such tasks allow for the examination of the prospective teacher moves to support student reasoning through their imagined action and choice of words. Scripts from forty-one prospective primary teachers were examined for the study, and five clusters based on the type of teacher move for supporting student reasoning were found. Overall, the prospective teachers emphasized the elicitation and facilitation of students’ ideas. The cluster analysis, however, provided a nuanced examination of the cohort’s teacher moves. While cluster one saw the highest incident of eliciting teacher moves, albeit only in the low potential category, clusters two and three mostly used facilitating teacher moves, but varied in their use of high and low potential moves. Cluster four concentrated moves on facilitating, eliciting, and responding to student reasoning. Cluster five employed teacher moves from all main categories, with some instances of high potential moves in all categories except extending student reasoning, which can better support reasoning. The prospective mathematics teachers’ scripts and the five clusters that were found during analysis are discussed with implications for future teacher education and the support of building mathematical reasoning.

Enhancing Prospective Teachers' Abilities for Supporting Student Reasoning on Quadratic Functions

“…A scriptwriting task involves teacher educators creating and sharing a classroom scenario (a representation of practice), then prospective teachers writing a script about how the interaction may proceed (an approximation of practice). Scriptwriting enables prospective teachers to envision potential interactions with students in the form of a ctional dialogue or script and to plan how to address such alternate conceptions both mathematically and pedagogically (Shure & Liljedahl, 2023;Zazkis et al, 2013). Prospective teachers can practice teacher moves by writing a script for the dialogue in a classroom simulation that supports ctional students' reasoning and helps them justify it.…”

“…Prospective teachers can practice teacher moves by writing a script for the dialogue in a classroom simulation that supports ctional students' reasoning and helps them justify it. Such tasks allow for the examination of the prospective teacher's moves to support student reasoning through their imagined action (Shure & Liljedahl, 2023). Crespo (2018) notes that scripting activities "serve as approximations of interactive teaching practice which can act as simulations for prospective teachers to rehearse particular teaching moves they are learning in their courses" (p. 250).…”

“…According to Shaughnessy and Boerst (2018), US prospective teachers seldom ask students to explain their process to solve a problem, nor do they often pose an additional problem to learn more about their thinking. A study conducted by Shure and Liljedahl (2023) found that none of the prospective German teachers attempted to extend students' reasoning, which explicitly aims to encourage justi cation and generalization.…”

“…It is particularly challenging for prospective teachers since they are still developing their knowledge. It has been shown that prospective teachers lack the skills necessary to support student mathematical reasoning, such as eliciting student reasoning (Moyer & Milewicz, 2002 Son, 2013), facilitating student reasoning (McDonald et al, 2013), and extending student reasoning (Shure & Liljedahl, 2023). Hence, there is a need for targeted interventions that enhance prospective teachers' abilities in supporting student mathematical reasoning.…”

“…al., 2021;Shure & Liljedahl, 2023). With the intervention, prospective teachers used high-potential moves more frequently to respond to student reasoning.…”