Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

What Matters? Research Trends in International Comparative Studies in Mathematics Education pp 215–236Cite as

The Instructional Quality of Mathematics Student Teachers in the United States and Japan: The Possible Impact of the Structure of Student Teaching

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 1459 Accesses

Part of the book series: Research in Mathematics Education ((RME))

Abstract

In this chapter we explore the instructional quality of four US student teachers in a novel student teaching structure. To overcome some of the common problems associated with student teaching documented in the research literature, we adapted a student teaching structure commonly used in Japan. We evaluate the instructional quality of the lessons by using the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) video coding protocol. We compare the instructional quality to a sample of Japanese student teachers and to a large sample of lessons from six large US school districts, utilizing the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study. We also illustrate the quantitative findings with vignettes from US and Japanese student teaching. The results show that given the right support and structure, student teachers in the USA can implement lessons that are similar in quality to Japanese student teachers and much richer than typical US mathematics instruction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baker, R. S., & Milner, J. O. (2006). Complexities of collaboration: Intensity of mentors’ responses to paired and single student teachers. Action in Teacher Education, 28(3), 61–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, D. L., & Bass, H. (2000). Interweaving content and pedagogy in teaching and learning to teach: Knowing and using mathematics. In J. Boaler (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 83–104). Westport, CT: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borko, H., & Livingston, C. (1989). Cognition and improvisation: Differences in mathematics instruction by expert and novice teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 26, 473–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borko, H., & Mayfield, V. (1995). The roles of the cooperating teacher and university supervisor in learning to teach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11, 501–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bullough Jr., R. V., Young, J., Birrell, J. R., Clark, D. C., Egan, M. W., Erickson, L., et al. (2003). Teaching with a peer: A comparison of two models of student teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 57–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, D. J., Emanuelsson, J., Jablonka, E., & Mok, I. A. C. (Eds.). (2006). Making connections: Comparing mathematics classrooms around the world. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobb, P., Wood, T., Yackel, E., & McNeal, B. (1992). Characteristics of classroom mathematics traditions: An interactional analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 573–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, D., Raudenbush, S., & Ball, D. (2003). Resources, instruction, and research. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(2), 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran-Smith, M. (1991). Reinventing student teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 42, 104–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. (2001). The mathematical education of teachers. Washington, DC: American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. (2012). The mathematical education of teachers II. Washington, DC: American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Corey, D., Peterson, B. E., Lewis, B. M., & Bukarau, J. (2010). Are there any places that students use their head? Principles of high-quality Japanese mathematics instruction. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 41, 434–478.Cuenca, A., Schmeichel, M., Butler, B., Dinkelman, T., & Nichols, J. Jr. (2011). Creating a “third space” in student teaching: Implications for the university supervisor’s status as outsider. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 1068–1077.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuenca, A., Schmeichel, M., Butler, B., Dinkelman, T., & Nichols, J. Jr. (2011). Creating a “third space” in student teaching: Implications for the university supervisor’s status as outsider. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 1068–1077.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, B. (2007). All the right features: Towards an “architecture” for mentoring trainee teachers in UK further education colleges. Journal of Education for Teaching, 33, 83–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, P., Ronfeldt, M., & Cohen, J. (2011). The power of setting: The role of field experience in learning to teach. In K. Harris, S. Graham, T. Urdan, A. Bus, S. Major, & H. L. Swanson (Eds.), American Psychological Association [APA] Educational Psychology Handbook, Applications to learning and teaching (Vol. 3, pp. 311–334). Washington, DC: APA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., Garnier, H., Givvin, K. B., Hollingsworth, H., Jacobs, J., et al. (2003). Teaching mathematics in seven countries: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study (NCES Publication No. 2003–013). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiebert, J., Stigler, J. W., Jacobs, J. K., Givvin, K. B., Garnier, H., Smith, M., et al. (2005). Mathematics teaching in the United States today (and tomorrow): Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27, 111–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, H. C., Blunk, M., Charalambous, C., Lewis, J., Phelps, G., Sleep, L., & Ball, D. L. (2008). Mathematical knowledge for teaching and the mathematical quality of instruction: An exploratory study. Cognition and Instruction, 26, 430–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodge, A. (2011). The design and benefits of a teaching seminar for pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies, 21, 263–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kane, T., & Cantrell, S. (2010). Learning about teaching: Initial findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching project. Seattle, WA: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project. (2010). Mathematical quality of instruction (MQI). Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT). Retrieved from http://lmt.mspnet.org/index.cfm/20926

  • Leatham, K. R., & Peterson, B. E. (2013). Talking about pedagogy, students and mathematics. In M. V. Martinez & A. Castro Superfine (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 629–636). Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leatham, K. R., & Peterson, B. E. (2010a). Purposefully designing student teaching to focus on students’ mathematical thinking. In J. Luebeck & J. W. Lott (Eds.), Mathematics teaching: Putting research into practice at all levels (pp. 225–239). San Diego, CA: Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leatham, K. R., & Peterson, B. E. (2010b). Secondary mathematics cooperating teachers’ perceptions of the purpose of student thinking. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 13, 99–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIntyre, D. J., Byrd, D. M., & Foxx, S. M. (1996). Field and laboratory experiences. In J. Sikula (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education (2nd ed., pp. 171–193). New York, NY: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, B. E. (2005). Student teaching in Japan: The lesson. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 8, 61–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, B. E., & Leatham, K. R. (2009). Learning to use students’ mathematical thinking to orchestrate a class discussion. In L. Knott (Ed.), The role of mathematics discourse in producing leaders of discourse (pp. 99–128). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronfeldt, M., & Reininger, M. (2012). More or better student teaching? Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 1091–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, J., & Hiebert, J. (1998). Teaching is a cultural activity. American Educator, 22(4), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, J., & Hiebert, J. (1999). The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world’s teachers for improving education in the classroom. New York, NY: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, J., & Hiebert, J. (2009). Closing the teaching gap. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(3), 32–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, P. S., Anderson, D. L., Leatham, K. R., Lovin, L. H., & Sanchez, W. B. (1999). Giving voice to mentor teachers. In F. Hitt & M. Santos (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 811–817). Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, S. M., Floden, R. E., & Ferrini-Mundy, J. (2002). Teacher preparation research: An insider’s view from the outside. Journal of Teacher Education, 53, 190–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeichner, K. M. (1981). Reflective teaching and field-based experience in teacher education. Interchange, 12(4), 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics Education, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    Douglas Lyman Corey, Keith R. Leatham & Blake E. Peterson

Authors
  1. Douglas Lyman Corey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Keith R. Leatham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Blake E. Peterson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas Lyman Corey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Learning and Instruction, University at Buffalo–The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Ji-Won Son

  2. Department of Mathematics, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA

    Tad Watanabe

  3. Department of Mathematics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA

    Jane-Jane Lo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Corey, D.L., Leatham, K.R., Peterson, B.E. (2017). The Instructional Quality of Mathematics Student Teachers in the United States and Japan: The Possible Impact of the Structure of Student Teaching. In: Son, JW., Watanabe, T., Lo, JJ. (eds) What Matters? Research Trends in International Comparative Studies in Mathematics Education. Research in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51187-0_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51187-0_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51185-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51187-0

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation