The development of case studies to evaluate the usefulness of teaching interactions in one-to-one teaching of early number

Abstract

This research paper reports on phase two of an Australian study that examined video-recorded intensive one-to-one teaching interactions with 6–7-year-old students who were in their second year of schooling and identified by the their class teacher as low attaining in early number. The two-phased study from which this paper emerges was originally conducted in 1998 as part of my Bachelor of Teaching Honours (Research) program at Southern Cross University Lismore, New South Wales. That study identified teaching interactions particularly suited to one-to-one teaching in the Maths Recovery Program, a program designed for these students who were at risk of failure in early number. A great deal has not changed since that time with limited literature available that comprehensively reports on teaching interactions in intensive one-to-one settings. Revisiting the original study is considered timely because of the increasing number of withdrawal and intensive programs now funded and adopted by schools and yet, rarely reported on in terms of the effectiveness of the teaching interactions that occur in such settings. This paper then builds on from the first research paper, The identification of teaching interactions used in one-to-one teaching of number in the early years of schooling to present a series of case studies of teaching interactions that were identified as positively influencing intensive one-to-one teaching and learning settings.

Keywords

• one-to-one teaching
• early childhood
• mathematics intervention
• low-attainers
• scaffolding
• mathematics education
• post question wait-time
• questioning
• prompting