The dynamic role of the teacher as a mediator in guiding classroom discussions in the context of a mathematic problem solving lesson appeared an interesting area to research into.
Research Proposal:
Thus this research seeks to investigate “The Teacher as Mediator in Problem Solving Instruction in Singapore Secondary School Classrooms” and aims to answer the following questions.
1. How frequently is this attribute observed in the natural setting of everyday Singapore mathematics problem solving classroom environments?
2. How this relate to teacher effectiveness in terms of promoting students’ mathematical thinking and students motivation to mathematics?
Research Design:
The sample for this study would be videotaped lessons of teachers teaching problem solving in classroom setting in Singapore secondary schools.
A video rating form of classroom observation inventory could be developed as the instrument used to assess this facet of “Teacher as Mediator” in problem solving instruction. The table below shows an example of the observation instrument.
Table 1: Example of Instrument for “ Teacher as Mediator”
This video rating form could be used by 2 to 3 experienced raters who would each independently rate video lessons on problem solving in the context of a secondary school setting. These raters should be trained through discussion of the rating instrument and an extensive practising phase in which demo lessons were rated. After watching each video, raters would indicate the presence or absence of each item in the observation checklist on a 4- point rating scale as shown in Table 1 above.
Next, to gather information of effectiveness of the problem solving lessons, a students’ perception survey would be crafted to include questions shown below in Table 2.
Table 2: Students’ perception survey of problem solving lesson
The students’ perception surveys should be administered immediately or shortly after each problem solving lesson. The frequency of the attribute of “Teacher as mediator” being observed is then correlated to results from the students’ perception survey.
Research potential
As noted by Grouws & Good (1988) , teachers and indirectly teachers’ behavior is a powerful factor in increasing students’ performance in the domain of Mathematics Problem Solving (MPS). For this reason any findings that would be of assistance in improving the teacher’s instruction would go a long way in ensuring the success of implementing problem solving in the classroom.
In addition, Kliene & Clausen (1999) noted that TIMSS Video Study revealed that Japanese Mathematics teachers systematically use alternative representations and student-developed solution methods to reveal the mathematical problem. They also constantly confront their students with opened-ended mathematics problems. These problems allow the use of alternative solution methods that can lead to correct solutions on different levels of complexity. The teaching approach using open-ended problems has shown to be most effective in promoting students’ mathematical thinking and students’ motivation to mathematics. Hence the potential of having a deeper understanding of the teacher's role in MPS, especially how teachers can effectively act as mediators in problem solving lessons would be a great advantage.
Benefits of Blogging in PS research
New tools open up new possibilities. Blogging would bring sharing of ideas and findings in PS researches among educators and researches in the international community to a new dimension. Its ever availability everywhere and anytime is an attractive alternative to conventional methods of sharing. However, just like any information found on the internet that has not been certified by relevant authority, findings must be applied with caution.
References:
Kliene, E., Clausen, M. (1999). Identifying Facets of Problem Solving in Mathematics Instruction. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Montreal, Quebec, Canada).
Grouws,D. A., Good,T.L.(1988). Teaching of MPS: Consistency and Variation in Students Performance in the Classes of Junior High School Teachers
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