Abstract
In mathematics education, researchers often contrast conceptual and procedural teaching approaches, although labels and conceptualizations often vary across studies. Prior research has extensively examined empirical relationships between the two teaching approaches and mathematics achievement. In our study, we aimed to extend this research by exploring whether one teaching approach moderates the relationship between the other teaching approach and algebra achievement. Specifically, we investigated whether the relationship between one teaching approach and algebra achievement differs depending on the degree to which the other teaching approach is implemented. We used data from the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:2009) that was conducted in the USA. In our study, procedural teaching was measured as the amount of emphasis that teachers placed on objectives related to procedures and computational skills, whereas conceptual teaching was measured as the amount of emphasis that teachers placed on objectives related to understanding, application, and motivation. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to analyze the data, thus accounting for clustering of students within classes and classes within teachers. We found a statistically non-significant interaction effect. This result suggests that the association between one teaching approach and algebra achievement is similar across the degrees of the other teaching approach. Furthermore, we found a statistically significant association between conceptual teaching and algebra achievement. Specifically, conceptual teaching was positively related to algebra achievement. For procedural teaching, we found a statistically non-significant association. Hence, we did not find evidence that procedural teaching is related to algebra achievement.
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The data are publicly available on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) website: https://nces.ed.gov/.
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This work was completed while Margret Hjalmarson was serving as a program director at the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Gerasimova, D., Miller, A.D. & Hjalmarson, M.A. Conceptual and procedural teaching: does one teaching approach moderate the relationship between the other teaching approach and algebra achievement?. Educ Stud Math 114, 181–198 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-023-10219-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-023-10219-y