Prospective Teachers’ Instructional Decisions and Pedagogical Moves when Responding to Student Thinking in Elementary Mathematics and Science Lessons

The work of teaching includes many in-the-moment decisions for teachers to make. In this study, we focused on the decisions prospective teachers made within the elementary context specific to shared teaching practice in mathematics and science instruction – elicit and use evidence of student thinking. Within a qualitative multisite case study, we analyzed data for how PTs took up student thinking within instructional decisions, and the nature of responsive moves enacted within an animated context once student thinking had been elicited. Findings reveal PTs were responsive to elicited student thinking. Most commonly, PTs’ instructional decisions involved asking additional questions or inviting students to test their ideas. However, PTs’ pedagogical moves varied across mathematics and science disciplines. Our findings guide teacher educators to focus on what moves best support PTs’ development to use evidence of student thinking across disciplines in the elementary classroom. The consistency of asking questions within mathematics and science begins to inform the quest for shared core practices. Results highlight the benefit of using technology (i.e. animations) as a tool to support PTs’ learning of instructional decisions and pedagogical moves to uncover the nuances of the teaching practice elicit and use evidence of student thinking.