Enhancing Preservice Teachers’ Use of Dialogic Teaching and Dynamic Visualizations in Mathematics Classes: Bridging the Knowing–Doing Gap

Abstract

Talking productively with students and sufficiently integrating technology into mathematics classrooms have long been regarded as two hurdles for mathematics teachers. To enhance preservice mathematics teachers’ dialogic teaching skills and integration of GeoGebra-scaffolded dynamic visualizations, this study proposed and examined the effectiveness of a video-based professional development (PD) approach supported by a digital platform called Classroom Discourse Analyzer. Adopting the QUAL-quan method, one preservice teacher was selected as a representative case. The results showed that the PD approach effectively improved the preservice teacher’s declarative knowledge and teaching practice of using lower-order talk moves. The preservice teacher’s self-awareness and self-reflection on dialogic teaching informed her future practices. Furthermore, the preservice teacher was able to integrate GeoGebra-scaffolded dynamic visualizations into the instructions with different pedagogical decisions, reflecting how she reacted to student errors and the affordances and constraints of dynamic visualizations. This study suggests that the theoretically robust PD approach can serve as pioneering work in simultaneously promoting dialogic teaching and GeoGebra-scaffolded dynamic visualizations among preservice mathematics teachers. It also demonstrates the potential of integrating digital technologies to design hybrid PD programs to enhance preservice teachers’ self-reflection and facilitate improvement in their future teaching practices.