Despite a wealth of research into improving questioning in mathematics, recent research has identified the need for more effective questioning strategies which are accessible to mathematics teachers. This thesis investigates the types of questions which encourage mathematical thinking and participation, with the aim of deepening and varying mathematical thinking for learners through working with my own tool to develop questioning in mathematics, the Intended Mathematical Processes and Cognitive Thought (IMPaCT) Taxonomy. Following a literature review of existing taxonomies which can be used for classifying questions, and framing the research around the establishment of sociomathematical norms in the classroom, this thesis develops a new taxonomy and presents the findings from the pilot study for this research followed by the empirical research to explore the effectiveness of the IMPaCT Taxonomy. Over the course of an academic year, 28 mathematics lessons, from four participant teachers and five classes of 14-16 year olds were observed, and the questioning in each lesson was analysed using the IMPaCT Taxonomy. After the first 15 of these observations, intervention was given to the participant teachers on using the IMPaCT Taxonomy before the remaining lesson observations were conducted. Proportions of question type and depth were analysed according to several factors: the participant teacher; the level of attainment of the class; the stage of the lesson; the Assessment for Learning techniques used; and the mathematical topic. The results show that although all these factors affect the questioning, the attainment of the class and the individual teacher have the biggest impact on the questioning employed. The empirical analysis shows that both the teachers’ understanding of how their questioning impacts on learners and the teachers’ variety and depth of questioning can be increased through working with the IMPaCT Taxonomy, although there are variations between teachers to the extent of the impact of the IMPaCT Taxonomy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:731384 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Denton, Jo |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/95625/ |
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