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Teacher responses to students' difficulty with mathematics problems and student engagement: a study of three urban mathematics classrooms
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Seeve, Evelyn Schachner. Teacher responses to students' difficulty with mathematics problems and student engagement: a study of three urban mathematics classrooms. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-3bf7-3s07

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TitleTeacher responses to students' difficulty with mathematics problems and student engagement: a study of three urban mathematics classrooms
NameSeeve, Evelyn Schachner (author); Goldin, Gerald (chair); Epstein, Yakov (internal member); Schorr, Roberta (internal member); Rutgers University; Graduate School of Education
Date Created2012
Other Date2012-10 (degree)
SubjectMathematics Education, Student errors in mathematics, Mathematics -- Study and teaching
Extent1 online resource (x, 378 pages)
DescriptionResearch points to students' increasingly negative attitudes towards mathematics throughout the middle and high school years, particularly for students coming from low SES backgrounds. Adverse feelings towards mathematics may be triggered by, among other things, classroom experiences that occur when students encounter difficulty with mathematics problems. Consequently, teacher responses to students in such cases can be instrumental in shaping their attitudes and feelings about mathematics. Teachers in urban, low SES schools often struggle in their efforts both to engage their students in challenging mathematics, and to have the students develop positive feelings towards the discipline. In an effort to better understand this dynamic, this study examined the responses of three urban mathematics teachers to their students' difficulties with mathematics problems and the students' behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement in mathematics following those responses.
The research questions that guided the study were: 1) What types of responses do the teachers provide when they perceive that their students are experiencing difficulty with mathematics problems? 2) How do the teachers explain their responses in such cases during follow-up interviews? 3) What are the behavioral, cognitive, and affective consequences relating to student engagement in mathematics, following the teachers' responses to students' difficulties with mathematics problems?
To answer these questions, 29 episodes of students' mathematics difficulty during 7 days of video and audio taped class sessions (2-3 days per teacher) were identified and analyzed, along with data from stimulated recall interviews with the teachers and student questionnaire responses. A coding scheme of teachers' responses emerging from the study included five broad categories of response types and between one and six subcodes for each. Participating teachers never provided direct solutions but responded, using various strategies, by encouraging students to address their mathematical challenges. Teachers' retrospective reasons for their responses were likewise coded and most often emphasized mathematical goals and individual students' abilities or skills. Influences of teachers' responses on students' mathematical engagement were student- and context- dependent. Some discrepancies were noted between students' self-reported emotions and emotions inferred from students' observed behaviors on videotape.
This study offers direction for future research examining consequences of teacher interventions on students' mathematical engagement.
NoteEd.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-3bf7-3s07
LanguageEnglish
CollectionGraduate School of Education Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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