Cases of Mathematics Professional Development in East Asian Countries: Using Video to Support Grounded Analysis

257 Pages·2015·4.682 MB·English

by  Swee Fong Ng

Mathematics Teacher Education
Volume 10
Series Editors
Andrea Peter-Koop, University of Oldenburg, Germany
Patricia Wilson, University of Georgia, United States
Editorial Board
Andy Begg, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Chris Breen, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Francis Lopez-Real, University of Hong Kong, China
Jarmila Novotna, Charles University, Czechoslovakia
Jeppe Skott, Danish University of Education, Copenhagen, Denmark
Peter Sullivan, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Dina Tirosh, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Scope
The Mathematics Teacher Education book series presents relevant research and
innovative international developments with respect to the preparation and
professional development of mathematics teachers. A better understanding of
teachers’ cognitions as well as knowledge about effective models for preservice and
inservice teacher education is fundamental for mathematics education at the
primary, secondary and tertiary level in the various contexts and cultures across the
world. Therefore, considerable research is needed to understand what facilitates and
impedes mathematics teachers’ professional learning. The series aims to provide a
signifi cant resource for teachers, teacher educators and graduate students by
introducing and critically refl ecting new ideas, concepts and fi ndings of research in
teacher education.
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/6327
Swee Fong Ng
Editor
Cases of Mathematics
Professional Development
in East Asian Countries
Using Video to Support Grounded Analysis
Editor
Swee Fong Ng
National Institute of Education
Singapore
Mathematics Teacher Education
ISBN 978-981-287-404-7 ISBN 978-981-287-405-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-405-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015938104
Springer Singapore Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2015
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Contents
1 How Researchers and Teachers Could Use Videos:
The Role of Grounded Images .............................................................. 1
Swee Fong Ng
Part I
2 Into Part I: How Videos and Audio Technology Support
the Professional Development of Teachers ........................................... 11
Swee Fong Ng
3 Developing Teacher Competencies Through Videos
for Facilitation of Mathematical Modelling in Singapore
Primary Schools ..................................................................................... 15
Kit Ee Dawn Ng , Wanty Widjaja , Chun Ming Eric Chan ,
and Cynthia Seto
4 Developing Critical Reflection Through Audio
and Video Technology for Some Singapore Primary
School Mathematics Teachers ............................................................... 39
Lu Pien Cheng
5 How a Singapore Teacher Used Videos to Help
Improve Her Teaching of the Part-Whole Concept
of Numbers and the Model Method ..................................................... 61
Swee Fong Ng
6 Using Video Clubs to Learn for Mathematical
Problem-Solving Instruction in the Philippines:
The Case of Teaching Extensions ......................................................... 83
Romina Ann S. Yap and Yew Hoong Leong
7 Video as a Medium for Introducing Lesson Study
to Multi-ethnic Malaysian Mathematics Teachers .............................. 107
Chap Sam Lim and Liew Kee Kor
v
vi Contents
8 Summary of Part I and Introduction to Part II .................................. 133
Swee Fong Ng
9 What Is Important in a Lesson on Factorisation?
The Reflection of an Experienced Teacher in Hong Kong ................. 137
Ida Ah Chee Mok
Part II
10 The Impact of Online Video Suite on the Singapore
Pre-service Teachers’ Buying-In to Innovative Teaching
of Factorisation via AlgeCards ............................................................. 157
Weng Kin Ho , Yew Hoong Leong , and Foo Him Ho
11 Reflections of a Korean Middle School Mathematics
Teacher on Improving the Teaching of Mathematics ......................... 179
Ho Kyoung Ko
12 The Use of Videos and Classroom Artefacts in Professional
Development of Teachers and Teacher Educators in Indonesia ........ 199
Wanty Widjaja and Maarten Dolk
13 Summary of Findings of Chapters in Part II
and Introduction to Part III .................................................................. 223
Swee Fong Ng
Part III
14 The Use of Video Technology in Pre-service Teacher
Education and In-service Teacher Professional Development ........... 229
Kim Koh
15 Going Forward: Encouraging Teachers to Embrace
Video Technology for Self-Development .............................................. 249
Swee Fong Ng
Contributors ................................................................................................... 251
Index ................................................................................................................ 255
Chapter 1
How Researchers and Teachers Could
Use Videos: The Role of Grounded Images
Swee Fong Ng
Abstract Before the availability of video technology, the teachers formed images of
classroom scenes based on the narratives provided by researchers. The availability
of video technology has changed the ways researchers engage teachers in profes-
sional development courses. Because both parties are able to observe the lesson
from the same perspective, they form grounded images of the classroom scene in
question. This chapter discusses the theory of grounded images and provides the
reader a summary of the seven chapters in Section I.
Brophy’s (2 004 ) work U sing Video in Teacher Education provided various examples
how videos could be used to enhance teacher education in different subject domains.
Mathematics has always been a challenging subject to learn and to teach.
Mathematics educators and teachers are continually searching for ways to improve
the teaching and learning of mathematics. Furthermore, fi ndings from international
comparative studies such as TIMSS and PISA have put the spotlight on mathemat-
ics education. Policymakers, researchers, mathematics educators and teachers are
curious why some countries are performing better than others. Although teaching is
culture specifi c ( Stigler & Hiebert, 2009 ), nevertheless, researchers, mathematics
educators and teachers wish to learn from their peers. The affordances of video have
meant that it is possible to learn by observing others at their practice. Videoed mate-
rials can be stored, retrieved, transmitted with a minimal of fuss and used repeatedly
without any damage to the original content. The use of videos in the professional
development of teachers is now an established methodology. However, researchers,
mathematics educators and teachers continue to fi nd ways to use videos to improve
their practice. This book introduces the theory of grounded image to discuss how
mathematics educators from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore
capitalise on the affordances of videos to design professional development courses
for teachers.
S. F. Ng (*)
National Institute of Education , Singapore
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2015 1
S.F. Ng (ed.), Cases of Mathematics Professional Development
in East Asian Countries, Mathematics Teacher Education 10,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-405-4_1
2 S.F. Ng
Although videos have their drawbacks, nevertheless, their affordances make
video a useful tool to support teacher education. Sherin ( 2004 ) identifi ed three
affordances. (1) Once captured the video images are lasting records of the events
and these images can be accessed on demand. Digitised materials have resulted in
even greater and speedier access to specifi c episodes. (2) Although the original
video is a record of the chronological progression of a lesson, the original contents
can be edited, grouped and reorganised into a format that is very different from its
original. In fact different episodes from different lessons can be grouped together
as a specifi c example of a particular construct. (3) Videos provide researchers,
mathematics educators and teachers the opportunity to engage with a new set of
pedagogical practices “that are very different from typical pedagogical practices”
(Sherin, p. 14).
Although videos can be a useful tool to enhance teacher education, it does not
mean that teachers would naturally learn from watching videos of classroom prac-
tices. There must be a clear objective why videos are used and great care must be
exercised to select the appropriate content to be viewed (Brophy, 2004 ). It is not
enough to present the content to the practitioners. Individuals learn best with proper
feedback (Klein, Nir-Gal, & Darom, 2 000 ). In their work, Klein and Darom found
that integrating adult feedback in pre-school computer learning environments facili-
tated informed use of computer technologies and has positive effects on children’s
performance. Extrapolating from this study, it is reasonable to hypothesise that with
proper feedback provided by facilitators of professional development courses,
teachers participating in professional development courses are likely to benefi t from
watching the videos of specifi c lessons.
The content could consist of a complete or selected episodes of a lesson
conducted by a teacher other than the participants involved in the professional
development or by a teacher involved in the professional development course itself.
The sociocultural context of the lesson could be one which the participants are
familiar with or one with a foreign context. In this case the language of the content
may be foreign to the participants and dubbing or translation of the contents may be
required to help participants engage with the proceedings of the lesson presented.
The participants could be an individual who has identifi ed a specifi c pedagogical
practice which he or she wishes to improve upon. Participants could also be groups
of individuals coming together to improve on a specifi c curricular area. This could
be teachers forming video clubs to address specifi c curricular needs such as how to
improve the teaching of problem-solving in their classrooms. Participants could
also be a group of teachers who wishes to learn how teachers in other countries
conduct their mathematics lessons with the specifi c aim of learning how to develop
repertoires which may be foreign to them. Japanese lesson study is a good example
of how practitioners from one culturally different group learn how others teach and
the effi cacy of their methods.
Facilitators could comprise researchers whose sole interest may be to use
videoed content to help them study classrooms and teaching across cultures.
Stigler and Hiebert’s ( 2009 ) work is one such example. Mathematics educators may
choose to use videos of lessons in the delivery of the mathematics methods courses.
1 How Researchers and Teachers Could Use Videos: The Role of Grounded Images 3
Lampert and Ball are pioneers in the fi eld. Their unique work in the Space for
Learning and Teaching Exploration (SLATE) project provided a rich and detailed
corpus of materials for American educators (Lampert & Ball, 1 998 ). Star and
Strickland’s ( 2008 ) work with pre-service secondary mathematics teachers helped
them categorise what pre-service teachers noticed in classrooms captured on vid-
eos. Borko, Jacobs, Eiteljorg and Pittman’s ( 2008 ) work with the Supporting the
Transition from Arithmetic to Algebraic Reasoning (STARR) project with middle-
school mathematics teachers showed how the participating teachers’ conversations
around videos of lessons from one another’s classrooms became increasingly refl ec-
tive and productive.
The Use of Grounded Images in Mathematics Teachers’
Professional Development: The Theoretical Framework
The introduction of electronic recording devices has changed the way researchers
work. The drawings in Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species (1 998 ) were
valuable records of plants and animals he encountered in their natural habitat. In the
1920s, cultural anthropologists such as Margaret Mead kept copious handwritten
fi eld notes, and photos were used to capture the participants of her study. Her work
Coming of Age in Samoa (2 001 ) became a bestseller. The images in these classics
were stills and much was left to the imagination of the reader. Compare and contrast
these works with those of the naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The images and the
accompanying commentary have meant that the audience could engage with the
wonders of the natural world which are presented in their minutest detail. For exam-
ple, the fl ight of the fl ying lizard could be examined as a complete sequence or
paused for the audience to examine the alignment of the webbed feet. At the same
time the commentary provides the audience with the researchers’ interpretations of
the lizard’s fl ight. The researchers and the audience share the same image as they
have a common perspective of the event. Furthermore once captured these images
can be recalled on demand for continual analysis.
In a similar vein the availability of electronic recording devices has added another
dimension to professional development of mathematics teachers. In the days of
handwritten notes, the researchers observe a teacher or group of teachers at work.
In post-lesson interviews, the researcher and the teacher as participant discuss the
contents of the lesson. Where they have diffi culties understanding particular actions
of the teacher, the researchers describe proceedings of that section in question.
The teacher tries to recall that particular classroom scene and tries to answer the
researcher’s queries. Whilst the image of the classroom scene in the researcher’s
mind is formed from the perspective of the researcher observing the lesson, that
formed by the teacher is based on the teacher listening to the description offered
by the researcher. This is because the teacher did not have the opportunity to
observe herself or himself at work. Because they come from different perspectives,