This practical guide invites teachers to take a journey towards masterly mathematics teaching using the experiences and lessons learnt across five Chinese provinces, Anhui, Beijing, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Tianjin.Building on data collected with 70 master mathematics teachers and 3,178 students and from teaching research events at the school, municipal, provincial and national levels, the Master Mathematics Teachers (MasterMT) project is, to date, the first that has looked at the legendary tribe of master mathematics teachers in China at such a large scale, and with such breadth and depth. The book offers invaluable insights for any teacher or teacher educator who wants to improve mathematics teaching and learning and generate educational and professional excellence in primary schools and beyond.
Chinese students’ mathematics performance is consistently good in international comparative studies. The role and effort of good mathematics teachers is indispensable. What is the secret of a good mathematics teacher in China? This book will tell you all about it. The MasterMT project aims to unfold the secret behind best teaching practice in primary mathematics in China via a mixed methods study. The study put focuses on three dimensions of mathematics teaching, namely action, mind and pattern. The findings delineate vivid pictures of master mathematics teachers’ individual and collective effects of various factors at multiple levels of student achievement in mathematics knowledge, skills and thinking; their perceptions of schooling and math learning; their professional trajectories. Educators, researchers, teachers and parents will enjoy this book.
Mok Ah Chee Ida, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Education policy across the world is often based on claims made about practices in other countries, and in Mathematics China has been one of the countries often cited. However, much of this commentary is based on overinterpreting international studies such as PISA, with very little research on what mathematics teaching in China is really like. This important book reports on a major study of Master Mathematics Teachers in five Chinese provinces, and provides us with rigorous data and analysis on their teaching practice. This is linked to student outcomes, not just in the cognitive sphere, but in the affective and metacognitive spheres as well. All of these make this book a must-read for anyone interested in mathematics education, and how we can improve it.
Daniel Muijs, Professor of Education and Head of the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast
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https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003127925
Acknowledgement: OA funded by University of Southampton, UK.
Showcasing the kinds of teaching methods that work within and across countries, this book presents a rich collection of views, including those from teachers, their native colleagues, their foreign colleagues and the researcher, regarding the quality of mathematics teaching today. Interweaving scientific results about teaching and learning evaluations with multiple perspectives of various roles in and out of the classroom, Miao and Reynolds offer insights into how and why different approaches of teaching have led to different learning outcomes in mathematics internationally. Building on rigid and robust analyses of the most up-to-date data in England and China, the book indicates that it is through changing teaching rather than changing teachers that mathematics learning can be improved, because it is what teachers do in the classroom that really makes a big difference.
Containing four decades of wisdom from the field of teaching effectiveness research, this book is essential reading for all who want to improve the quality of mathematics teaching worldwide. This book is particularly relevant for educational researchers, postgraduate students and teachers, as well as school leaders, policymakers and parents.
Zhenzhen Miao, PhD 