Assessing Instructional Explanations for Mathematical Procedures at Scale Using Animated Teaching Simulations

Abstract

Student mastery of elementary mathematical procedures is foundational to learning in the discipline and to success in more advanced mathematics. Prior studies suggest that classroom instruction often focuses on the steps of procedures without also providing support for their meaning, for instance by emphasizing place value or justifying steps. However, studies on this topic are either outdated or limited in scale. In response, we analyze 324 teachers’ spoken instructional explanations in reaction to 6 animated teaching simulations covering 3 teaching tasks—explaining a procedure, addressing student confusion, and summarizing a nonstandard student method. An analysis of these data reveals that teachers primarily focus on the steps of procedures except when summarizing nonstandard student methods. Results provide clues about the nature of US classroom instruction and offer a new tool for evaluating the impact of efforts to change that instruction.