This study probed into elementary school teachers’ use of instruction time in mathematics on the basis of a case study. Recording a teacher with 20 years’ teaching experience in his classroom and having interviews with him for six months, this study aims to understand the teacher’s use of mathematics instruction time and the influencing factors on this case. According to the results, the teacher in this case tends to divide his teaching activities into review and preview, new content development, interactions and discussions, and exercises and applications. In each class, he would carry out these activities. As the teaching of a module advanced, less instruction time is spent on new content development and more on interactions, discussions, exercises and applications. In terms of the factors influential on the instruction time use, the teacher in this case takes into account mainly the students’ learning initiatives in mathematics and their learning motives, and rarely considers other factors.
References
[1]
Artzt, A., & Armour-Thomas, E. (2002). Becoming a Reflective Mathematics Teacher: A Guide for Observations and Self-Assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
[2]
Boaler, J., & Staples, M. (2008). Creating Mathematical Futures through an Equitable Teaching Approach: The Case of Railside School. Teacher College Record, 110, 608-645.
[3]
Borko, H., & Livingston, C. (1989). Cognition Improvisation: Differences in Mathematics Instruction by Expert and Novice Teachers. American Education Research Journal, 26, 473-498.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/00028312026004473
[4]
Cuban, L. (1992). Curriculum Stability and Change. In P. W. Jackson (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Curriculum (pp. 216-247). NY: Macmillan.
[5]
Even, R., Tirosh, D., & Robinson, N. (1993). Connectedness in Teaching Equivalent Algebraic Expressions: Novice versus Expert Teachers. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 5, 50-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03217254
[6]
Fennema, E., & Franke, M. (1992). Teachers’ Knowledge and Its Impact. In D. A. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp. 147-164). NY: Macmillan.
[7]
Good, T. L., & Grouws, D. A. (1979). The Missouri Mathematics Effectiveness Project: An Experimental Study in Fourth-Grade Classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 355-362.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.71.3.355
[8]
Grouws, D., Smith, M., & Sztajn, P. (2004). The Preparation and Teaching Practice of U.S. Mathematics Teachers: Grades 4 and 8. In P. Kloosterman, & F. Lester (Eds.), The 1990 through 2000 Mathematics Assessments of the National Assessment of Educational Progress: Results and Interpretations (pp. 221-269). Reston, VA: NCTM.
[9]
Grouws, D. A., Tarr, J. E., Chávez, Ó., Sears, R., Soria, V. M., & Taylan, R. D. (2013). Curriculum and Implementation Effects on High School Students’ Mathematics Learning from Curricula Representing Subject-Specific and Integrated Content Organizations. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44, 416-463. http://dx.doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.44.2.0416
[10]
Grouws, D. A., Tarr, J. E., Sears, R., & Ross, D. J. (2010). Mathematics Teachers’ Use of Instructional Time and Relationships to Textbook Content Organization and Class Period Format. Paper Presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI.
[11]
Gutstein, E. (2003). Teaching and Learning Mathematics for Social Justice in an Urban Latino School. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 34, 37-73.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/30034699
[12]
Henningsen, M., & Stein, M. K. (1997). Mathematical Tasks and Student Cognition: Classroom Based Factors That Support and Inhabit High-Level Mathematical Thinking and Reasoning. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28, 524-549. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/749690
[13]
Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., Garnier, H., Givvin, K. B., Hollingsworth, H., Jacobs, J. et al. (2003). Teaching Mathematics in Seven Countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Washington DC: National Center for Education Statistic.
[14]
Hiebert, J., & Grouws, D. A. (2007). The Effects of Classroom Mathematics Teaching on Students’ Learning. In F. Lester (Ed.), Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp. 371-404). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
[15]
Hsu, W. M. (2013a). Examining the Types of Mathematical Tasks Used to Explore the Mathematics Instruction by Elementary School Teachers. Creative Education, 4, 396-404.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2013.46056
[16]
Hsu, W. M. (2013b). A Comparison and Analysis of the Types and Representations of Mathematical Problems in the Elementary Mathematics Textbooks of Taiwan, Finland and Singapore. Chinese Journal of Science Education, 21, 263-289.
[17]
Hsu, W. M. (2013c). An Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbook Use by Elementary School Teachers. Chinese Journal of Science Education, 21, 25-48.
[18]
Hsu, W. M., & Chang, K. K. (2010). The Influence of Mathematics Curriculum of Teacher Education on the Mathematics Teaching Image of Elementary School Teachers: A Case Study. Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly, 18, 41-77.
[19]
Leung, F. K. S. (2005). Some Characteristics of East Asian Mathematics Classrooms Based on Data from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 60, 199-215.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10649-005-3835-8
[20]
Lloyd, G. (2008). Curriculum Use While Learning to Teach: One Student Teacher’s Appropriation of Mathematics Curriculum Materials. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39, 63-94.
[21]
Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O., Gonzales, E. J., Gregory, K. D., Garden, R. A., O’Cornor, K. M., Chrostowski, S. J., & Smith, T. A. (2000). TIMSS 1999 International Mathematics Report. Chestnut Hill, MA: International Study Center, Boston College.
[22]
Remillard, J. (2005). Examining Key Concepts in Research on Teachers’ Use of Mathematics Curricular. Review of Educational Research, 75, 211-246.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/00346543075002211
[23]
Sandt, S. (2007). Research Framework on Mathematics Teacher Behaviour: Koehler and Grouws’ Framework Revisited. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 3, 343-350.
[24]
Stein, M., Remillard, J., & Smith M. (2007). How Curriculum Influences Student Learning. In F. Lester (Ed.), Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp. 319-369). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
[25]
Tarr, J., Reys, R., Reys, B., Chávez, Ó., Shih, J., & Osterlind, S. (2008). The Impact of Middle-Grades Mathematics Curricula and the Classroom Learning Environment on Student Achievement. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39, 247-280.
[26]
Weiss, I. R., Banilower, E. R., McMahon, K, C., & Smith, P. S. (2001). Report of the 2000 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education. Chapel Hill, NC: Horizon Research, Inc.
[27]
Weiss, I. R., Pasley, J. D., Smith, P. S., Banilower, E. R., & Heck, D. J. (2003). A Study of K-12 Mathematics and Science Education in the United States. Chapel Hill, NC: Horizon Research, Inc.
