Transforming Elementary Mathematics Classroom Practice: Ideas and Innovation from a Leader’s Perspective

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight common challenges that school leaders encounter when seeking to implement change in the teaching and learning of mathematics at their schools. Specifically, the chapter will offer innovative ways that international elementary principals successfully have influenced systemic change in K-5 mathematics classroom practice. The challenges highlighted are not unique to international educators, but the context from which we speak is situated in the international educational environment. We offer practical, but theoretically based guidance for school leaders looking to implement, support, and sustain authentic change in the culture and practice surrounding the math development of students. The first half of the chapter will provide context and a situational perspective relative to the complex relationship between principals, as instructional leaders, and their ability to influence classroom change. Key events that have made conversations about the teaching and learning of mathematics prominent in schools around the world also are highlighted. The second half of the chapter details actionable ideas grounded in research that elementary principals or curriculum leaders can implement to help shift classroom teaching and learning at the elementary level. Ultimately, these shifts are designed to enable higher levels of mathematics achievement for all K-5 students.

“How will you construct a pathway system?”: Microanalysis of teacher-child scientific conversations

During the preschool years, children’s question-explanation exchanges with teachers serve as a powerful mechanism for their early STEM knowledge acquisition. Utilizing naturalistic longitudinal classroom data, we examined how such conversations in an inquiry-based preschool classroom change during an extended scientific inquiry unit. We were particularly interested in information-seeking questions (causal, e.g. “How will you construct a pathway?”; fact-based, e.g., “Where’s the marble?”). Videos (n = 18; 14 hours) were collected during a three-week inquiry unit on forces and motion and transcribed in CLAN-CHILDES software at the utterance level. Utterances were coded for delivery (question vs. statement) and content (e.g., fact-based, causal). Although teachers ask more questions than children, we found a significant increase in information-seeking questions during Weeks 2 and 3. We explored the content of information-seeking questions and found that the majority of these questions were asked by teachers, and focused on facts. However, the timing of fact-based and causal questions varied. Whereas more causal questions occurred in earlier weeks, more fact-based questions were asked towards the end of the inquiry. These findings provide insight into how children’s and teacher’s questions develop during an inquiry, informing our understanding of early science learning. Even in an inquiry-learning environment, teachers guide interactions, asking questions to support children’s learning. Children’s information-seeking questions increase during certain weeks, suggesting that providing opportunities to ask questions may allow children to be more active in constructing knowledge. Such findings are important for considering how science questions are naturally embedded in an inquiry-based learning classroom.

Promoting English-as-a-medium-of-instruction (EMI) Teacher Development in Higher Education: What Can Language Specialists Do and Become?

Despite the rapid expansion of English-as-a-medium-of-instruction (EMI) programs in higher education, EMI teacher education is still in its infancy. This viewpoint paper analyses what language specialists can do and become in EMI teacher education in university settings. Specifically, the paper argues that language specialists can take on a new role as EMI teacher educators and contribute to EMI teaching and teacher development in different ways, including: (1) initiating classroom change through awareness raising; (2) integrating content and language in specific disciplines through collaboration; (3) attending to EMI teachers’ social and affective needs; and (4) advocating the professional status of EMI teachers. The paper also proposes a tentative framework on EMI teacher educator identity, which can serve as a frame of reference for language specialists who are interested in embarking on a new professional path as EMI teacher educators.

Can Flipping the Classroom Change the Traditional Teaching Method of “Economic Research Methods”?

The course “Economics Research Methods” is often unsatisfactory because of its abstract nature and high requirements for students’ knowledge reserves. Flipping the classroom has changed the timing of knowledge transfer and knowledge internalization, which is helpful for students to make up for their knowledge reserves, and helps to improve the process of knowledge internalization through active classroom discussions with teachers, and it is more conducive to students to establish economic thinking and knowledge Picture. Of course, “Economics Research Methods” also requires teachers and students to make active and effective adjustments to their roles when carrying out fipped classrooms.

The Use of Complementary Virtual and Real Scientific Models to Engage Students in Inquiry

This chapter reports on a four-year study to change how climate change science is taught and learned in schools. The goal of the Climate Change Narrative Game Education (CHANGE) project is to take what is known about reform-based practices, incorporating students' lived experiences into the curriculum, and the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into the classroom. CHANGE uses the following: scientifically realistic text narratives (text stories with local characters, 50-100 years in the future, a local, place-based approach, a focus on the built environment, the use of simulations and games based on scientific data, and a web-based “intermedia” eBook narrative where sections of narrative text alternate with simulations and computer games. The chapter reports on the ways that we have used the above principles to connect classrooms and communities and school science with academic science to facilitate student inquiry into climate science by combining virtual serious educational games with in class, hands-on inquiry using scientific models.

Making spaces in professional learning for democratic literacy education in the early years

Literacy instruction in Canadian classrooms is entangled in neoliberal discourses that can limit teachers’ professional learning opportunities, pedagogical options, and children’s literacy options. And yet, there is hope. This chapter provides illustrations from one first grade classroom that participated in a multiple-case study of professional learning in literacy. The learning was designed to support teachers of children aged 3.8-8 years in creating multimodal literacy pedagogies. Data were collected through ethnographic and narrative methods. Analysis focused on mapping the network that produced classroom change, the children’s responses to the lesson, and the relationship to the professional learning activities. The findings suggest that the professional learning helped to create more connected literacies, joyful engagement in learning, and new relationships between children, teachers, materials, and meaning-making. The findings suggest how democratic literacy education can be fostered through professional learning spaces where teachers can exercise professional discernment and focus on children as pedagogical informants.

Do Stand-Biased Desks in the Classroom Change School-Time Activity and Sedentary Behavior?

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of stand-biased desks on the physical activity and sedentary behavior of third, fourth and sixth grade students across the school year. Methods: This within classroom crossover design study used teacher-determined allocation for seating within each classroom. Half of the students used a stand-biased desk and half used a sitting desk. Five-day hip-worn accelerometer assessments were completed at baseline and at the end of each nine-week intervention period. A mixed effects model was used to determine the differences in the percentage of time spent active and sedentary. Results: A total of 22, 36 and 41 students in 3rd, 4th and 6th grades, respectively, completed this study (57.1% male, 79.3% White). Regardless of the desk type, students became more sedentary (p < 0.001) and less active (p < 0.001) in the classroom as the school year progressed. After controlling for baseline activity, there was a significant interaction between the type of desk and time (p = 0.029). Students who spent a higher percentage of their classroom time sedentary engaged in less sedentary behavior when using a stand-biased desk compared to the traditional desk. Conclusion: The standing desk intervention was effective in mitigating the increase in sedentary behavior for those who started the school year more sedentary.