Search results for: Problem solving

This article presents a brief overview of scenario-based instruction in Child, Family and Community online course. The results show that student and faculty feedback, as well as student learning outcomes, have revealed that the scenario and case-based aspects of the course design have been useful and helpful in achieving the course goals. Instructors reported that there was a noticeable difference between the students who participated in the scenario-based classes versus the students that participated in the traditional format of the course in terms of the depth and breadth of their work.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of classroom practice and how it is supported by the culture of a classroom. The primary participant in this study was an eighth-grade mathematics teacher renowned for being a good teacher whose teaching conformed to the intentions of the reform-oriented National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards, with a particular emphasis on problem solving. The authors found that although Ms. Bryans appropriated some of the rhetoric and practices of problem-solving-based practice, her goals and assessment methods and most of her instructional methods were not consistent with common ideas of problem-solving mathematics.

In this article, the authors were interested to explore how teachers can effectively facilitate classroom discussions in the ways that elicit negotiation of meaning and maximize the potential of mathematical inquiry activities. In the neriage stage, Japanese teachers encourage students to listen to other students’ ideas carefully and consider the strengths and weaknesses of different problem-solving strategies. Then the teachers facilitate discussions to co-determine which strategy is the most reasonable and efficient one. This article introduces a video-based lesson study that explored how a group of U.S. teachers could successfully implement consensus building discussions (or neriage) in their mathematics classrooms.

This study draws data from a public university teacher education program that specifically sought to prepare White, middle-income, novice teachers to work in a large, urban school district. Specifically, the authors sought to find out what characteristics and environmental supports were important to these teachers in their first years of teaching. The results of this study identified seven criteria that emerged from interviews of 12 new urban teachers in exploring what makes them feel successful in their jobs. Themes included access to significant adult relationships, ability to mentor others, ability to problem-solve, hope, high expectations for self and students, sociocultural awareness, and the teachers’ need to access professional development opportunities.