Pedagogical features that influence mathematics classroom practices – A Bruneian perspective

Abstract

     In most classrooms, each subject lesson is allocated an amount of time for teaching and learning to occur. With researchers reporting that increased lesson time did not necessarily translate to increased student learning, other methods for improving learning were investigated. This study identified the pedagogical features that influence the quality of mathematics classrooms in Brunei Darussalam through video recording and analyzing the lesson sequences of four eighth-grade classrooms. This study focused on five codes, drawn from the coding scheme used in the TIMSS 1999 Video Study that specifically looked at classroom practices influencing the lesson clarity and flow of mathematics lesson sequences. The first and second features (goal statements and lesson summary statements) may improve mathematical learning though enhancing the clarity of the key ideas presented during the lesson while the remaining three features investigated three different kinds of interruptions (outside interruptions, engaging in non-mathematical activities, and any off-topic public announcements) that may disturb the flow of the mathematics lesson. In total, 20 sets of video-recorded lessons were coded. The findings from the Brunei data revealed that 80 percent of the eighth-grade mathematics lessons contained at least one goal statement while lesson summaries were relatively uncommon (10%). Outside interruptions and off-topic public announcements were frequent at 55 percent and 45 percent, respectively. All these kinds of interruptions suggest that there may be frequent instances of uneven flow within the entire length of the mathematics lessons taught by the four participating teachers.