Abstract

The study's objective was to collect evidence that would lend support to the validity of the Domains of Mathematical Teaching (DMT) software tool for observing teacher practices in the elementary mathematics classroom. Specifically, one teacher's practice in her mathematics classroom was examined using two methods of observation: the DMT and video recordings. Percent frequencies derived from data from the two observation methods were compared in four DMT categories: Teacher Elicitations, Direct Instruction, Context of Teacher's Task Presentation, and Classroom Organization. Further, the two sets of data were used to create two teaching profiles, called Procedural and Reform, which were based on Baroody's (2003) framework depicting mathematics instruction. The profiles were created using three teacher practice measures – Focus, Methods, and Classroom Organization – and the two methods of observation were compared to investigate the extent to which the DMT reflects video analyses.
Results indicated that the DMT and video were strongly positively correlated for three of the four targeted DMT categories (p < .01). Moreover, the DMT generated a similar profile of instructional practice as the video recordings in each of the three teacher practice measures. Taken together, the findings provide strong support that the DMT may be used instead of video recordings to obtain data on teacher practices in the elementary mathematics classroom.