The Study
The current wave of mathematics reform places heavy emphasis on classroom discourse; students are to make conjectures, explore them, seek evidence, prove and disprove claims and try to convince themselves and others of their ideas. This vision of the classroom is a challenge for teachers who are accustomed to a class environment in which they show and tell, and students listen and ask questions. This study was conducted by Daniel Chazan, associate professor of teacher education, and Deborah Ball, who at the time also was an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University. The study investigates the teacher's role in discussion-intensive mathematics classrooms in both elementary school and high school settings.

The Findings
To say that teachers should never tell students anything underestimates the value of the teacher, but a clear understanding of what "telling" means is needed. The selection or invention of the role to be played in discussion-intensive classrooms is made in response to the dynamics of the situation, needs of the student(s), and mathematical substance of the discussion. Teacher may need to: manage disagreements and ease tensions; prompt productive disagreement; clarify students' views; focus the discussion; provide substantive mathematical comment. Teachers also have a role in supporting a classroom atmosphere of "intellectual ferment" where students can actively learn, develop and change.

What It Means to You
If you are exploring the adoption of a more discussion-intensive pedagogy in your mathematics classrooms, you may want to have some thoughtful discussions about the teacher's role in managing the complex ferment of mathematical class discussions. Discovering the relationship between teacher action and the nature and substance of the students' on-going discussion, will probably be more productive, in the long run, than focusing on specific teacher behaviors to be learned or used. In seeking to modulate productively the focus and nature of discussion, teachers must have a repertoire of ways to add, stir, slow or redirect the class's work in an atmosphere that encourages participation and openness. Left without such interventions, the mere sharing of ideas by students will not necessarily generate learning.

More Information
Consult Chazen, D. and Ball, D. (1995), "Beyond Exhortations Not to Tell: the Teacher's Role in Discussion-Intensive Mathematics Classes," East Lansing, Michigan: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning.

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