Scientific poster example

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Math Talk in Elementary Classrooms What features
are common? Leslie Banes, Rebecca Ambrose,
Heather Martin, and Rachel Restani University of
California, Davis
Methods
Mean Discussion Scores
Preliminary Findings

• Quantity of student talk and participation during
  math lessons was high. Connections between ideas
  and in-depth explanations (indicators of quality
  of class discussion) were much less frequent.
• Explanations consistently scored lowest, often
  lacking important elements of a concept or
  focused exclusively on procedure.
• Although student participation in math
  discussions is relatively high, there is still
  work to be done to increase the quality of
  complex discussion features.
• Suggests there may be phases in the trajectory of
  learning to orchestrate effective mathematical
  discussions teachers may develop strategies for
  encouraging a variety of approaches and ensuring
  equitable participation before they succeed in
  pressing for student connections and explanations
  (Kazemi and Stipek, 2001 Hufferd-Ackles et al.,
  2004).

• Observers took field notes and independently
  scored discussions on four-point, five-category
  rubric (developed by project staff), then
  negotiated differences to settle on single score
• Inter-rater reliability (within 10 two points
  on overall score) was 76

Discussion Feature Mean Score
Explanations 2.3
Connection between ideas 2.55
Opportunities to participate 3.05
Equitable participation 3.6
Variety of approaches 3.6
Total Score 15.1
Introduction
Observation Instrument

• Common Core demands students explain their
  mathematical thinking, yet this practice is still
  rare in elementary school classrooms (Walshaw
  Anthony, 2008).
• The development of a math-talk learning community
  includes a shift in responsibility for learning
  from teacher to students (Hufferd-Ackles et al.,
  2004).

• Rubric features Variety of approaches, Equitable
  participation, Opportunities to participate,
  Connection between ideas, and Explanations (See
  Restani et al., this conference)
• Opportunities to participate frequency and time
  allotted for student talk in partners or
  whole-class
• Equitable participation number of students who
  shared independent thinking in whole-class
  discussion

• A mean equitable participation score of 3.6
  indicates most students displayed evidence of
  independent thinking at least once during the
  lesson in most classrooms only one classroom
  scored below a 3.

Purpose

• Increase understanding of mathematical
  discussions and how they are enacted in different
  classrooms
• Consider implications regarding support teachers
  might need to advance the level of discussion in
  their classrooms

Setting and Participants

• All 3rd and 4th grade classrooms in district
  (n20) visited once by two observers in Jan-Apr.
  2013
• K-6 urban school district with 5 schools
• 88 received lunch subsidies 45 ELLs
• 37 Hispanic, 16 White, 15 African American
• On average, teachers have been in the district
  for 15 years lt5 teacher mobility rate
• Some teachers participated in up to 3 years of PD
  with a focus on mathematical discussion.

References
Hufferd-Ackles, K., Fuson, K., Sherin, M.
(2004). Describing levels and components of a
math-talk learning community. Journal for
Research in Mathematics Education, 35(2),
81-116. Kazemi, E., Stipek, D. (2001).
Promoting conceptual thinking in four mathematics
classrooms. The Elementary School Journal,
102(1), 5980. Walshaw, M., Anthony, G.
(2008). The teachers role in classroom
discourse A review of recent research into
mathematics classrooms. Review of Educational
Research, 78(3), 516551.
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