Teachers' views about multiple strategies in middle and high school mathematics: Perceived advantages, disadvantages, and reported instructional practices

Abstract

Despite extensive scholarship about the importance of teaching mathematics with multiple strategies in the elementary grades, there has been relatively little discussion of this practice in the middle and high school levels or in the context of introductory algebra. This paper begins our exploration of this practice by addressing the following questions: (1) What do middle and high school Algebra I teachers describe as the advantages of instruction that includes a focus on multiple strategies?; and (2) What disadvantages to this practice do these teachers describe?. Our analysis, based on the data from interviews (N=13) and surveys (N=79) conducted with experienced middle and secondary mathematics teachers, indicates that middle and secondary math teachers’ reported views surrounding multiple strategies appear to differ in important ways from those typically associated with teaching with multiple strategies in the elementary grades.