Developing Prospective Teachers' skills in Supporting Student Reasoning on Quadratic Functions

This study aims to explore how a Teacher Moves for Supporting Student Reasoning (TMSSR)-based intervention influences the development of prospective middle school teachers' use of high potential versus low-potential teacher moves when supporting student reasoning on quadratic functions. Participants (N = 17) engaged with quadratic functions, practiced the TMSSR framework through scriptwriting tasks, received feedback and revised their scripts, compared and contrasted scenarios, and discussed ways to achieve high-potential moves. Data sources included an initial diagnostic task, a post-intervention task, and take-home assignments, all involving scriptwriting. Results showed that prospective teachers successfully transitioned from using low-potential moves to high-potential moves in the areas of eliciting, responding to, facilitating, and extending student mathematical reasoning. Specific areas of improvement included eliciting understanding, promoting error correction, providing guidance, encouraging reflection, and pressing for generalisation. This study offers practical insights for teacher education programs by demonstrating how teacher educators can guide prospective teachers in using high-leverage moves—such as eliciting, responding to, facilitating, and extending student reasoning—thereby contributing to the development of more effective instructional practices in mathematics classrooms.