The Teacher Responding Tool: Scaffolding the teacher practice of responding to student ideas in mathematics classrooms

摘要

Research in teacher education highlights the importance of responding to student ideas. However, effectively noticing, interpreting, and then responding to students' mathematical ideas can be quite challenging for teachers as they try to balance multiple, competing goals in an authentic classroom setting. This study introduces the Teacher Responding Tool (TRT), and examines its role in scaffolding four high school teachers' responding practice. The TRT leverages natural language processing technology to provide teachers with automated, student-specific recommendations for how to respond to their student's ideas. By comparing teacher responding with and without the TRT recommendations, their interactions with the tool, their think-aloud data, and their post-project interviews, results demonstrate that the TRT recommendations helped teachers notice and respond to nuances in the mathematical ideas of their students. Implications for teaching and learning, responding tool development, and teacher professional development are discussed.