Simulation of Teacher Interventions in a Training Course of Mathematics Teacher Educators

Abstract

This work aimed to characterize simulated teacher interventions to manage a didactic configuration in which students solve problem situations using an ICT resource. We also aimed to identify patterns of interaction between the teacher and the students that make it possible to characterize styles of interaction and assess both their interactional and their ecological suitability. To do this, we used the tools of the Onto-semiotic Approach to Mathematical Cognition and Instruction to analyze the level of reflection of 102 educators of preservice teachers of mathematics, about hypothetical problem resolutions of their students and the types of interactions simulated by them to manage the students’ learning. The educators were participants of a Teacher Training of the Teacher Specialization in Education and ICT in Argentina. The results show that there are three levels of reflection and four types of interaction (maieutic, falsificationist, dogmatic and paternalistic). We did not find a high interactional suitability in their proposals of dialogues, and participants do not consider aspects of the ecological suitability, such as the adaptation to the official curriculum. We conclude that the type of interventions that teacher educators propose is closely related to their level of reflection about the reasons why their students respond to problems in one manner or another.