Primary teachers’ early and retrospective instructional vision of mathematical inquiry

Abstract

AbstractA key challenge in implementing inquiry-based learning in mathematics has been raising teachers’ confidence and skills with unfamiliar pedagogical practices. The nature of inquiry in particular challenges traditional notions of teaching mathematics that dominate the field. Few studies have explored how teachers’ perceptions of the nature of inquiry evolve as they adopt and gain experience over time teaching mathematics with inquiry. This article draws on interviews from ten primary teachers about their anticipated and initial experiences, then again after five years of experience. Using instructional vision as a lens, analysis of their perspectives of inquiry at each juncture provided insights into how teachers were confronted by and then persisted through early challenges to make mathematical inquiry a regular part of their pedagogy. This paper provides new insights of teachers’ vision of their role into adopting ambitious pedagogies over time.