Elsevier

International Journal of Educational Research

Chapter 4 Cognitively guided instruction: Building on the knowledge of students and teachers*

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the results of a series of correlational, experimental, and case studies on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), a program designed to help teachers understand children's thinking and use this knowledge to make instructional decisions. Results of the studies show that teachers' knowledge and beliefs about students' thinking are related to students' achievement. There were significant differences between CGI classes and control classes on the emphasis on problem solving and low level skills, the freedom given to students to construct their own strategies for solving problems, the teachers' knowledge of their students thinking, and the students' achievement in both problem solving and skills.

Section snippets

Thomas P. Carpenter is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently serving as editor of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and is Associate Director of the National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education. His research has focused on the development of quantitative concepts in primary school children. His current research is investigating how teachers use knowledge about children's thinking in planning and

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      However, we want to note that providing principle-oriented explanations is only one instructional method which may contribute to students' understanding predominantly in initial phases of knowledge acquisition (Bokosmaty et al., 2015; van Gog et al., 2008). Opposed to the provision of instructional explanations, there are discovery-oriented approaches in which students gain conceptual knowledge by guided and active problem-solving (Boaler, 2002; Carpenter & Fennema, 1992; Ferrini-Mundy & Martin, 2000; van de Walle et al., 2013). Although empirical research demonstrated that both direct and problem-based approaches can contribute to students' learning (Alfieri et al., 2011), less is known about how direct and problem-oriented instructional approaches can be effectively combined to support students' learning (see Kant et al., 2017; Kapur, 2016, for exceptions).

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    Thomas P. Carpenter is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently serving as editor of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education and is Associate Director of the National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education. His research has focused on the development of quantitative concepts in primary school children. His current research is investigating how teachers use knowledge about children's thinking in planning and implementing instruction.

    Elizabeth Fennema holds a joint appointment as Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and in the Women's Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also is a co-director of the National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education. Well known for the Fennema-Sherman Studies on gender-related differences in mathematics learning, the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales, her research on gender issues in education, and her commitment to equity issues, Dr Fennema is equally respected for her contributions to the study of teaching. Her current research in Cognitively Guided Instruction concerns teacher knowledge and beliefs about children's cognitions in addition and subtraction and their impact on learning.

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