Andrea McDonough

Understanding, Assessing and Developing Children's Mathematical Thinking: The Power of a One-to-One Interview for Preservice Teachers in Providing Insights into Appropriate Pedagogical Practices.

Abstract At Australian Catholic University and Monash University, preservice mathematics teachers are required to conduct and analyse one-to-one mathematics assessment interviews with primary-aged children. The assessment tool is drawn from the Early Numeracy Research Project, where it was used with over 11,000 children in Victorian schools. The interview assesses content from Number, Measurement and Geometry, in an interactive, hands-on format, with childrens responses and strategies determining the path through the interview protocol. Follow-up discussion in class enabled preservice teachers to explore appropriate pedagogies that build upon what had been learned from the interviews. The research described in this chapter sought to investigate the effectiveness of this process. Interviews and written questionnaires were the data sources. Analysis of the data suggested that teachers were more aware of the kinds of strategies that children use including their variety and relative level of sophistication, and that the interview and subsequent discussion stimulated preservice teachers to reflect upon appropriate classroom experiences for young mathematics learners.

Role of self-talk in the classroom: investigating the relationship of eight-to-nine-year-olds' self-regulatory self-talk strategies with their classroom self-regulatory behaviour and mathematical achievement

Much research has been conducted on childrens self-talk and its use to regulate thinking and behaviour, but research has typically been conducted on audible self-talk when undertaking specific tasks designed by researchers and in laboratory situations. Addressing the need to study self-talk in the classroom and by students of an age when self-talk is largely internalised, this study investigated the association of self-talk with childrens self-regulatory behaviour and academic performance. The findings reported in this paper are based on the data from self-report questionnaires on self-talk completed by eight-to-nine-year-olds, national mathematics achievement test results, and a teacher-completed behaviour rating scale. Based on the previous research, results were somewhat unexpected, including that self-talk may not have a very strong role in childrens behavioural self-regulation and calling into question an effect of self-talk on childrens learning in the classroom. Possible reasons are provided and the need for future research is acknowledged.

Investigating eight- to nine-year-olds’ self-regulatory self-talk in the context of their classroom tasks

Self-talk has been recognised as an important tool used by children to regulate their thinking and behaviour. Existing studies typically characterise childrens self-talk according to broad categories that do not allow for investigation of self-regulatory aspects of childrens internalised self-talk. The findings reported in this paper are based on a pilot study aimed at eliciting information on self-talk that eight- to nine-year-olds employ in the context of their classroom tasks and at a stage when the childrens self-talk is largely internalised. The findings offer useful insights into the types of self-regulatory self-talk employed by children in the classroom and suggest that these aspects should be considered in the characterisation and study of childrens self-talk.