EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TASKS, TEACHER ACTIONS, AND STUDENT LEARNING

We are examining actions that teachers take to convert tasks into learning opportunities. In this paper, we contrast ways that three teachers convert the same task into lessons, and the way that their lessons reflect their intent. We found that the teachers did what they intended to do, that this was connected to their appreciation of the mathematics involved, and directly influenced the learning opportunities of the students. To the extent that the potential of the task was reduced, this seemed due to the lack of mathematical confidence in the case of two of the teachers.