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Using Video Clubs to Learn for Mathematical Problem-Solving Instruction in the Philippines: The Case of Teaching Extensions

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Cases of Mathematics Professional Development in East Asian Countries

Part of the book series: Mathematics Teacher Education ((MTEN,volume 10))

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Abstract

The study reported here is situated within a 7-month professional development programme aimed at supporting Secondary 1 mathematics teachers in the teaching of mathematical problem-solving in the Philippines. A video club was part of the programme. In a video club, the teachers view video clips of their own or their peer’s classroom teaching and discuss certain aspects of teaching. Evaluations at the end of the programme revealed that teachers considered the video club as one of the components of the programme that had the most impact on them. This chapter examined whether and how the video club influenced teachers’ mathematical problem-solving classroom instruction particularly in the area of teaching extensions. The findings offer a provisional theory for the trajectory of teacher learning in video clubs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The name of the school, the teacher participants and the students appearing in this chapter are pseudonyms.

  2. 2.

    The academic school year in the Philippines typically commences in June.

  3. 3.

    Some of the criteria for choosing the problem included its alignment with the topics in the regular mathematics curriculum, its level of difficulty considering the students’ abilities and its suitability to highlight certain MPS processes.

  4. 4.

    The Rivendell mathematics department became acquainted with the Practical Worksheet through a faculty member who encountered it in her postgraduate studies in Singapore.

  5. 5.

    To a certain degree, Rivendell implements a system of student streaming. Most students follow the regular curriculum, but a smaller fixed fraction of students are placed in an accelerated track.

  6. 6.

    A few classes were only audio-recorded or not recorded altogether due to logistical limitations.

  7. 7.

    In Rivendell, classroom instruction is carried out in English, although it is common for some Filipino words to be injected in discourse. On the other hand, the collaboration sessions and interviews were conducted using a mix of English and Filipino words as was common in this Philippine setting. For convenience, all the excerpts appearing in this paper are the English translations. Efforts were made to keep the contextual meanings accurate.

  8. 8.

    While the presentation slides were made for teachers to use, it was emphasised that teachers were free to modify or even disregard the slides depending on what they saw was appropriate for their class.

  9. 9.

    During the fourth pre-class session, I initiated these discussions having previewed the clips that were used in the video club that took place a week after.

  10. 10.

    The student applied the discount and delivery charge in the following additive manner:

    • Case 1: x − 0.20x + 0.70x = 0.87x

    • Case 2: x + 0.70x − 0.20x = 0.87x

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Romina Ann S. Yap & Yew Hoong Leong

Authors
  1. Romina Ann S. Yap
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  2. Yew Hoong Leong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Romina Ann S. Yap .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Education, Singapore, Singapore

    Swee Fong Ng

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix A – Practical Worksheet Utilised in the PD

Problem

Instructions

  • Work on the problem above by completing the worksheet doing stages I–IV.

  • It may be necessary to return to certain stages.

  • Articulate your thinking processes clearly.

  1. 1.

    Understand the problem.

    (You may have to return to this section a few times. Number each attempt to understand the problem accordingly as Attempt 1, Attempt 2, etc.)

    1. (a)

      Write down your feelings about the problem. Does it bore you? Scare you? Challenge you? Why?

    2. (b)

      Write down the parts you do not understand now or that you misunderstood in your previous attempt.

    3. (c)

      Write down your attempt(s) to understand the problem, and state the strategies you used to understand the problem.

  2. 2.

    Devise a plan.

    (You may have to return to this section a few times. Number each new plan accordingly as Plan 1, Plan 2, etc.)

    1. (a)

      Write down the key Math skills and ideas that might be involved in solving the problem.

    2. (b)

      Do you think you have the required knowledge to implement the plan?

    3. (c)

      Write out each plan concisely and clearly. State the heuristics to be used for solving.

  3. 3.

    Carry out the plan.

    (You may have to return to this section a few times. Number each implementation accordingly as Plan 1, Plan 2, etc., or even Plan 1.1, Plan 1.2, etc., if there are two or more attempts using Plan 1.)

    Write out each implementation in detail. Write down the conjectures that might arise from your attempts and provide justifications when necessary.

  4. 4.

    Check and extend.

    1. (a)

      Write down how you checked your solution.

    2. (b)

      Are you happy and confident with your solution? Write down an outline of at least one alternative solution that you can think of.

    3. (c)

      Give at least one extension of the problem. Briefly, give a possible solution method or strategy for at least one of the extensions you gave.

Appendix B – Short Description of the Video Clips Featured in the Video Club

 

Video club 1

Video club 2

Video club 3

Video club 4

Video club 5

Clip #1: Teacher featured

Derrick

Bessie

Calvin

Elsa

Derrick

Short description

Teacher asking student to articulate his solution better

Teacher preparing the class for problem-solving

Teacher monitoring students as they engage in problem-solving

Teacher asking class to review a peer’s work

Teacher asking class what they considered important in problem-solving

Clip #2: Teacher featured

– NONE –

Bessie

Calvin

Alice

Yvonne

Short description

Only one clip was shown in this video club

Teacher focusing on the heuristics the students were using

Teacher giving students time to answer extensions

Teacher deconstructing a common misconception

Teacher asking class to explain reason behind a solution step

  1. Note: Frank expressed discomfort at being videotaped in the classroom. Thus, none of his classes were featured in the video clubs.

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Yap, R.A.S., Leong, Y.H. (2015). Using Video Clubs to Learn for Mathematical Problem-Solving Instruction in the Philippines: The Case of Teaching Extensions. In: Ng, S. (eds) Cases of Mathematics Professional Development in East Asian Countries. Mathematics Teacher Education, vol 10. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-405-4_6

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