2013 Conference Proceedings - University of Nevada, Las Vegas

THE INTERVIEW PROJECTAngel Rowe AbneyGeorgia College & State Universityangel.abney@gcsu.eduDoris SantaroneGeorgia College & State Universitydoris.santarone@gcsu.eduIn a mathematics content course for preservice early childhood teachers (PSTs), an interviewproject is used to analyze whether the PSTs can learn to listen to, analyze a child’s mathematics,and inform their mathematics and teaching. Our study suggests that this project is an effectivetool for changing PSTs views of the discipline of mathematics and what it means to teachmathematics.In the teaching principle, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000) called forteachers to have not only a deep understanding of the content that they teach, but also knowledgeof their students. To make this type of reform in mathematics education possible, Thompson andThompson (1994) contended that classroom discourse and communication are essentialelements. They suggested that teachers “must be sensitive to children’s thinking duringinstruction and shape their instructional actions accordingly—to ensure that children hear whatthey intend them to hear” (p. 279). If the current practice of assessment and instruction is tochange, how might this change occur? Where does such reform begin? We believe it shouldbegin with preservice teacher (PST) education.As instructors of the first mathematics content course in a sequence of four courses for earlychildhood majors, we want the PSTs to develop an intuitive number sense. We also believe thatthey need to work toward communicating using precise mathematical terminology to constructand justify arguments. A major part of the work of teachers is to interpret their students’solutions and determine the reasonableness of answers and evaluate the efficiency of methods.While the early childhood program is field-intensive, unlike many elementary educationprograms, the PSTs in our program never take a mathematics specific methods course. Becausewe feel passionate about integrating pedagogical experiences into their content courses, wedecided to create an experience where PSTs were required to listen to and learn from children.Ultimately we want PSTs to allow what they learn from children to influence how they thinkabout their own mathematics and allow it to inform their teaching. In this sense they will beassessing a child’s developmental level with respect to whole numbers. For this project the PSTsare required to describe a child’s mathematics, analyze the child’s mathematics using theframework from the course, apply their analysis to inform their instructional decisions (if theyProceedings of the 40 th Annual Meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning 2013 42