Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences

Advisor 1

Shari Stockero

Committee Member 1

Elizabeth Veinott

Committee Member 2

John Gruver

Abstract

In the student-centered classroom, a teacher’s interpretation and response to student mathematical contributions plays an important role to shape and direct students’ opportunities for sense-making. This research used a scenario-based survey questionnaire to examine what types of questions middle and high school mathematics teachers indicate they would ask to engage students in making sense of a high-leverage student mathematical contribution and their reasoning about why particular questions are or are not productive. From the results, it could be concluded that teachers asked more productive questions after seeing a set of possible questions. Their beliefs about the productivity of the questions related to a variety of factors, including the specificity of the question, student participation, student ability and whether incorrect solutions should be discussed. The results could inform future work with teachers to productively use student thinking in their teaching.

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