Author(s): Kylie Ice
Mentor(s): Byungeun Pak
Institution UTech
This study explores the efficacy of Number Talks (NTs) on student learning, from a prospective elementary teacher’s (PST’s) perspective. NTs are structured routines designed to engage students in discussing strategies used by their peers to solve a computational problem. Despite the growing popularity of NTs, there is limited research on the efficacy of NTs on student learning, particularly from the perspective of PSTs. Few studies have examined how NTs, when enacted by PSTs, impact student learning in real classroom settings. This study aims to fill that gap by investigating the influence of NTs facilitated by PSTs on students’ mathematical understanding. Adopting a self-study methodology, the researcher as a PST examined her own teaching practices in facilitating NTs to gain deeper insights into her approach. The study involved six students from the researcher’s third-grade field placement classroom, who participated in weekly NTs led by the researcher. The data were three reflection journals written by the researcher. The researcher analyzed the data to identify common themes regarding how the students’ conceptual understanding of mathematical strategies evolved and the role of the researcher’s facilitation in supporting that development. Preliminary findings suggest that (1) NTs helped students develop a deeper conceptual understanding and (2) the PST consistently engaged students in making connections across different strategies by guiding them to compare and contrast the strategies in terms of their similarities, differences, and efficiency. These findings provide insights into effective facilitation techniques for PSTs, offering practical suggestions for enhancing the impact of NTs on student learning.