Cognitively Guided Instruction: A Research-Based Teacher Professional Development Program for Elementary School Mathematics

摘要

Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) is a professional development program based on an integrated program of research focused on (a) the development of students' mathematical thinking; (b) instruction that influences that development; (c) teachers knowledge and beliefs that influence their instructional practices; and (d) the way that teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and practices are influenced by their understanding of students' mathematical thinking. Our research has been cyclic. We started with explicit knowledge about the development of children's mathematical thinking, which we used as a context to study teachers' knowledge of students' mathematical thinking and the way teachers might use knowledge of students' thinking in making instructional decisions. We found that although teachers had a great deal of intuitive knowledge about children's mathematical thinking, it was fragmented and, as a consequence, generally did not play an important role in most teachers' decision-making. If teachers were to be expected to plan instruction based on their knowledge of students' thinking, they needed some coherent basis for making instructional decisions.