Development of Pre-service Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Skills in Interpretation of Student Thinking in the Context of Lesson Study

Abstract

Mathematics teachers’ knowledge of students’ thinking has an important effect on the teaching-learning process (Cai, Ding & Wang, 2014; Clarkson & Presmeg, 2008). Teachers who understand student thinking sufficiently can interpret student thinking effectively and can anticipate student misconceptions, difficulties, and errors. Furthermore, they can overcome these challenges with appropriate explanations (An, Kulm & Wu, 2004; Ball, Thames & Phelps, 2008). The research revealed, however, that teachers/pre-service teachers have difficulty interpreting student thinking (Crepso, 2000; 2003). This led to the conclusion that pre-service teachers need to develop skills in understanding and interpreting the student perspective (Hiebert, Morris & Glass 2003). The scope of this study was to improve pre-service middle school mathematics teachers’ knowledge and interpretation of student thinking through lesson study. Three senior pre-service teachers participated in this study. Pre-service teachers implemented three practice lesson study cycles in a real classroom. Data was obtained from documents, video recordings, observations, field notes, and reflective papers. In order to analyze data, content analysis was used. Results showed that the pre-service teachers had some challenges knowing and interpreting student thinking at the beginning of the study. As lesson study cycles proceeded, pre-service teachers began to take into account student thinking, design and implement lesson plans according to students’ needs and difficulties.