An analysis of a teacher’s questioning related to students’ responses and mathematical creativity in an elementary school in the UK

Abstract

Questioning has an important role in teaching mathematics. There is current research about questioning, especially related to class discussion and students’ responses. Some researchers suggest teachers pose any kind of questions in mathematics classroom regarding problem solving and mathematical creativity. This research focused on a teacher’s questioning activity and students’ responses as well as students’ mathematical creativity in response to the teacher’s questions. This study used observation of a lesson that involved a teacher and twenty-seven third-year students (aged 7-8). Audio recording and notes were taken during the observation, and six students’ work samples were also collected. The researcher transcribed the audio and then formulated appropriate interview questions for the teacher and six students chosen. The interview was conducted for clarifying the observation done and analysing what students’ mathematical creativity looked like. This interview was also recorded and transcribed. The teacher applied some questioning techniques like using PowerPoint and a wait-time technique asking different questions both closed and open-ended questions. When asked questions, students were able to produce different responses. However, students gave longer answers to open-ended questions especially while the teacher asked questions “How?” and “Why?”. The results also showed that open-ended questions could stimulate students’ mathematical creativity.