This collaborative project between Morehead State University, Northern Kentucky University, and the University of Kentucky provides information about the extent to which an innovative learning experience focused on the professional noticing of children's numeracy develops preservice teachers' (PSETs') capacity to attend to, interpret, and respond appropriately to the mathematical thinking of children. The project uses a module, Noticing Numeracy Now (N3), developed by the researchers and based on professional literature in the areas of professional noticing and the Stages of Early Arithmetic Learning (SEAL). The research advances knowledge and understanding of how teacher educators can facilitate PSETs' development of professional noticing, knowledge of children's conception of unit, mathematical knowledge for teaching, and positive attitudes toward mathematics. The activities present a creative and potentially transformative approach to the preparation of future elementary teachers through classroom and field activities that explicitly promote the development of the component skills of professional noticing in the context of SEAL.
The Noticing Numeracy Now (N3) module, designed for replication, is being implemented at six universities, the three lead institutions along with Eastern Kentucky University, Murray State University and the University of Louisville. The student populations at these institutions represent cultural and socio-economic diversity, including underrepresented groups. Collectively, the six universities draw their student populations from culturally diverse, urban populations and predominately Appalachian rural populations. Many of the students are the first in their families to study at a university.
Overall project goal: to determine the extent to which an innovative learning experience focused on the professional noticing of children’s numeracy develops pre-service teachers’ capacity to attend to, interpret and respond appropriately to the mathematical thinking of individual children. Major Activities: The Instructional Module The Noticing Numeracy Now module consists of multiple in-class sessions during which the three components of professional noticing are developed in the context of the Stages of Early Arithmetic Learning (SEAL). The researchers of the Noticing Numeracy Now project intentionally chose videos of early number sense teaching/learning exchanges for two reasons: 1) video cases, as representations of practice, provide opportunities to explicitly attend to and discuss salient features of children's mathematical thinking that can go unnoticed by novices in real-time classrooms, and 2) early number sense is an area of mathematics with which Preservice Elementary Teachers (PSETs) are generally comfortable so the mathematics itself would not be a barrier to the examination of children's mathematical thinking. PSETs are asked to respond to the videos in various ways, including writing about what they attend to in the video and engaging in discussion with a partner, with a small group, and in whole class discussions led by the instructor. At the beginning of the module, the discussion prompts are more general, such as asking them to observe the physical actions verbal exchanges taking place. As the module continues, PSETs learn to focus on the salient features of students' mathematical actions and words. In addition to these salient features, PSETs' attention is drawn to teacher moves and the mathematics of the tasks. As the sessions progress, PSETs learn to interpret the salient features in terms of SEAL and finally they learn to make decisions about next steps, both diagnostic and instructional. The Participants and Assessment The participants in this study were PSETs enrolled in one of five participating universities. All universities are public institutions and the participants represent a cross-section of the general population of a state in the east central United States. Participants were enrolled in elementary mathematics methods courses or elementary mathematics content courses at their respective universities and the instructional module, Noticing Numeracy Now, was a component of these courses. For comparison purposes, PSETs who were enrolled in elementary mathematics courses but did not participate in the N3 module also participated in the pre and post assessments. All participants, both implementation and comparison groups, were pre- and post-assessed in three areas: professional noticing, attitudes toward mathematics, and mathematics knowledge for teaching. Research Questions: 1. Does an intervention focused on professional noticing of children’s early numeracy skills in mathematics methods courses enhance PSETs’ a) professional noticing skills, b) attitudes toward mathematics, and c) mathematical knowledge for teaching mathematics? 2. How do a) professional noticing skills, b) attitudes toward mathematics, and c) mathematical knowledge for teaching of PSETs in a comparison group equate to PSETs who participated in the module intervention? 3. What correlations exist among PSETs’ professional noticing performance, attitudes toward mathematics, and mathematics knowledge for teaching? 4. What factors, if any, contribute to PSETs’ professional noticing, attitudes toward mathematics, and mathematical knowledge for teaching? Significant Findings: Overall, we found the N3 module to serve as an effective intervention accounting for significant growth in PSETs’ professional noticing skills. Although correlations did not exist among the constructs for the implementation group, the enjoyment factor of the ATMI and MKT accounted for 37% of the variance in their professional noticing skills. In regards to PSETs’ attitudes toward mathematics, both groups showed positive increases with the comparison group having a significantly stronger increase in the value factor of the ATMI. For the implementation group, the attending factor accounted for 21% of the variance in their attitudes toward mathematics. MKT analyses did not yield favorable results for either group. While some minor correlations existed between the groups’ attitudes and their MKT scores, no factors were able to account for the variance in MKT.
