Abstract
Supporting students to develop conceptual understanding can be challenging. In this chapter, we address how teachers can promote students’ conceptual growth. Our aim is to illustrate connections between the framework for knowing and learning presented in Chap. 3 and instructional design considerations. We address the essential question, “What tools do teachers utilize to promote students’ conceptual change?” First, we compare and contrast interventions designed for remediation versus interventions designed for learning, making connections between designing for learning and mathematical proficiency. Next, we review core features of student learning: students’ noticing of relationships between goals, actions, and their effects and unpack two key design considerations teachers can use to support growth in students’ concepts. Specifically, we unpack (1) bridging, variation, and reinstating types of tasks and (2) interactive prompting and gesturing. Finally, we use the fundamental concept of ten as a unit to illustrate how teachers might use such design moves to inform their teaching.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Brophy, J., & Good, T. (1986). Teacher behavior and student achievement. In Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 238–375).
Bryant, D. P., Bryant, B. R., Gersten, R., Scammacca, N., & Chavez, M. M. (2008). Mathematics intervention for first-and second-grade students with mathematics difficulties: The effects of tier 2 intervention delivered as booster lessons. Remedial and Special Education, 29(1), 20–32.
Civil, M. (2007). Building on community knowledge: An avenue to equity in mathematics education. In Improving access to mathematics: Diversity and equity in the classroom (pp. 105–117).
Ellis, E. S., & Worthington, L. A. (1994). Research synthesis on effective teaching principles and the design of quality tools for educators. National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators, College of Education, University of Oregon.
Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., & Zumeta, R. O. (2008). A curricular-sampling approach to progress monitoring: Mathematics concepts and applications. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 33(4), 225–233.
Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2006). Introduction to response to intervention: What, why, and how valid is it? Reading Research Quarterly, 41(1), 93–99.
Gu, L., Huang, R., & Marton, F. (2006). Teaching with variation: A Chinese way of promoting effective mathematics learning. In L. Fan, N.-Y. Wong, J. Cai, & L. Shiqi (Eds.), How Chinese learn mathematics: Perspectives from insiders (pp. 309–347). World Scientific.
Hiebert, J., & Grouws, D. A. (2007). The effects of classroom mathematics teaching on students’ learning. In Second handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (Vol. 1, pp. 371–404).
Hunt, J. H., & Empson, S. B. (2015). Exploratory study of informal strategies for equal sharing problems of students with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 38(4), 208–220.
Hunt, J. (2015). How to better understand the diverse mathematical thinking of learners. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, 20(2), 15–21.
Hunt, J., & Silva, J. (2020). Emma’s negotiation of number: Implicit intensive intervention. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 51(3), 334–360.
Hunt, J. H., Silva, J., & Lambert, R. (2019). Empowering students with specific learning disabilities: Jim’s concept of unit fraction. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 56, 100738.
Hunt, J., & Tzur, R. (2017). Where is difference? Processes of mathematical remediation through a constructivist lens. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 48, 62–76.
Huang, R., Miller, D. L., & Tzur, R. (2015). Mathematics teaching in a Chinese classroom: A hybrid-model analysis of opportunities for students’ learning. In L. Fan, N.-Y. Wong, J. Cai, & S. Li (Eds.), How Chinese teach mathematics: Perspectives from insiders (pp. 73–110). World Scientific.
Jin, X., & Tzur, R. (2011). ’Bridging’: An assimilation- and ZPD-enhancing practice in Chinese pedagogy. A presentation at the 91st Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J., & Findell, B. (2001). In National research council (Ed.), Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics (Vol. 2101). National Academy Press.
National Research Council (U.S.). (2001). Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Olive, J. (2000). Children’s number sequences: An explanation of Steffe’s constructs and an extrapolation to rational numbers of arithmetic. The Mathematics Educator, 11(1), 4.
Tzur, R. (1996). Interaction and children’s fraction learning. UMI Dissertation Services (Bell & Howell).
Tzur, R. (2007). Fine grain assessment of students’ mathematical understanding: Participatory and anticipatory stages in learning a new mathematical conception. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 66(3), 273–291.
Tzur, R. (2011). Can dual processing theories of thinking inform conceptual learning in mathematics? The Mathematics Enthusiast, 8(3), 597–636.
Tzur, R., & Lambert, M. A. (2011). Intermediate participatory stages as zone of proximal development correlate in constructing counting-on: A plausible conceptual source for children’s transitory “regress” to counting-all. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 42(5), 418–450.
Tzur, R., & Hunt, J. (2015). Iteration: Unit fraction knowledge and the French fry tasks. Teaching Children Mathematics, 22(3), 148–157.
Tzur, R., & Simon, M. (2004). Distinguishing two stages of mathematics conceptual learning. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2(2), 287–304.
Siegler, R. S. (2007). Cognitive variability. Developmental Science, 10(1), 104–109.
Simon, M. A., Tzur, R., Heinz, K., & Kinzel, M. (2004). Explicating a mechanism for conceptual learning: Elaborating the construct of reflective abstraction. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 35(3), 305–329.
Von Glasersfeld, E. (1995). Radical constructivism: A way of knowing and learning. Studies in mathematics education series: 6. Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hunt, J.H., Tzur, R. (2022). Connecting Theory to Concept Building: Designing Instruction for Learning. In: Xin, Y.P., Tzur, R., Thouless, H. (eds) Enabling Mathematics Learning of Struggling Students. Research in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95216-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95216-7_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-95215-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-95216-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)