Enacting Number Talks in a Simulated Classroom Environment: What Do Preservice Teachers Notice About Students?

Number talks are short mathematical discussions offering sensemaking opportunities for students. Aside from bolstering students’ mathematical learning, this instructional routine may also support preservice teachers (PSTs) in investigating how to facilitate discussion-focused instruction. In this study, PSTs engage in a learning cycle to explore, plan and rehearse two separate number talks during human-in-the-loop simulations, and then reflect on these experiences. During the first simulation, PSTs focus on understanding the routine’s components while positioning avatar-students as sensemakers as they elicit their participation. In the second simulation, PSTs build their instructional skills as they record representations of students’ mathematical thinking, probe students’ thinking in order to make mathematics visible, as well as notice missed opportunities to support students’ mathematical reasoning during reflections of their experiences. Implications of this study suggest that simulations, when embedded within a cycle of enactment and reflection, support PSTs in developing professional noticing skills.

Using Number Talks to Support Students With High-Incidence Disabilities in Mathematics

Number talks are increasingly used in general education mathematics classes to engage students. Yet, and despite the potential benefits, number talks are given limited attention for students with high-incidence disabilities in special education settings. This article presents special education teachers with both the why and, more importantly, the how for implementing number talks to support students with high-incidence disabilities in special education settings. Specifically, the authors address how number talks can serve as both a formative assessment and an intervention for fluency and activating students’ background knowledge to be successful in general education settings. The article also provides suggestions for implementing number talks with fidelity and flexibility (e.g., use of manipulatives, pictorial representations, and teacher explicit instruction of numerical strategies).

Increasing the Number Sense Understanding of Preschool Students With ASD

Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) academic skills supports their future opportunities. For example, early number sense skills are predictive of future mathematical success for all children including children with ASD. Yet, research on foundational early childhood mathematics skills of children with ASD is limited. This study used an adapted version of Number Talks to increase the number sense skills of preschool children with ASD. Number Talks is a constructivist approach that was combined with systematic instruction (i.e., system of least prompts and modeling) in this study. A multiple probe across participants design established a functional relation between using an adapted version of Number Talks and the early number sense skills of preschool children with ASD. Findings suggest using an adapted version of Number Talks can increase the early number sense skills of preschool children with ASD. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Transforming K-12 Mathematics Classroom Teacher Pedagogy Through Virtual Number Talks

Number Talks is a popular K-12 mathematics routine utilized in classrooms across the United States. Number Talks allows teachers to elicit and respond to students' mathematical thinking through the development of an encouraging classroom community and provide opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity. In this chapter, the authors report their “virtualization” of the Number Talks routine and the development of a teacher learning cycle that supports implementation of this practice. The virtualization of Number Talks is illustrated through the pedagogical transformation of one teacher, who begins the teacher learning cycle skeptical of the value of Number Talks and ends with an innovative Virtual Number Talks practice that benefited both students and teachers in her school. This teacher's implementation of Virtual Number Talks and engagement in the “4C” of 21st century learning demonstrate a transformation of pedagogy that uses technology to create rich online mathematics learning experiences.