Mathematics teacher educator noticing: examining interpretations and evidence of students’ thinking

Abstract

Noticing is a skill that is not overtly observable yet is consequential to effective mathematics instruction. Researchers have found that prospective and practicing teachers can learn to notice, but little focus has been given to those who teach teachers to notice. The purpose of the study was to characterize mathematics teacher educators’ noticing and their ability to interpret students’ thinking and connect interpretations to evidence. Participants in the study included 16 mathematics teacher educators who took part in a course designed to support noticing. Results indicate the mathematics teacher educators noticed at varying degrees and improved their noticing and incidence of connections between interpretations and evidence. Findings indicated that 19% of participants had no shift in their noticing because they were at the highest level of noticing to begin with (Robust with Strong Evidence), which was considered advanced noticing. Twenty-five percent of the participants did not shift in their noticing at all and remained at Limited, which is considered an intermediate level of noticing. The remaining 56% of the participants improved their noticing. The results of the study reveal that at the end of the course a majority of the participants were able to connect interpretations with evidence. These findings are important because they describe mathematics teacher educators’ interpretations and evidence as they notice.