This PowerPoint presentation is created as part of my Maths presentation. Created by Naserah Khan

3 Valid Points Made by the researchers 1st Valid Point Clinical interviews are a powerful technique for elucidating students’ problems as they are required to verbalize the cognitive processes taking place while solving problems.

3 Valid Points Made by the researchers 2nd Valid Point Ineffective responses by the children can be used to determine common misunderstandings, allowing development of effective strategies for re-teaching.

3 Valid Points Made by the researchers 3rd Valid Point Children who are considered to be “good mathematicians” within a classroom setting, may have underlying misconceptions/weaknesses that may only be uncovered using a clinical interview protocol.

Although the study was set out to “unmask good mathematicians”, we had a few concerns with the way the study was conducted. Therefore, we don’t think the results from this study is conclusive enough.

“Clinical Interview must become a part of the teacher’s repertoire” DISAGREE Time Constraints: clinical interview, no matter how useful they are, are necessarily time consuming and therefore difficult for teachers to apply in the classroom. How can teachers then successfully apply these techniques given their hectic schedule in class?

“Clinical Interviewing must Become a part of the teacher’s repertoire.” DISAGREE Highly level knowledge and skills are required to successfully interpret and apply interview results (i.e. to categorize and develop re-teaching skills)

“Clinical Interview must become a part of the teacher’s repertoire” It may be a good tool for teachers to acquire clinical interview skills but REALISTICALLY not applicable. A study on using 1:1 clinical interview would be more relevant and of interest to a tutor, educational therapist or integration aide. For a classroom teacher with 25 children, it would be more relevant if the study was based on group clinical interview and teaching teachers how to conduct it in a group set-up. DISAGREE

Some other concerns we had Variables used in the studies 52 students used in the study were taken from a particular school. Taken from the same set-up/school Variables used were NOT based on random sampling, from various part of the state or country to provide a more accurate analysis. Study is actually a Biased study.

Some other concerns we had Question time. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE ATTRIBUTE OF A GOOD MATHS STUDENT?

Some other concerns we had Selection Procedure No pre-test was used in selecting children who are “good” at mathematics. Based on a subjective method Based on teacher’s opinion as who they thought was good But, each person’s perception of what constitutes a good student is different. Therefore, selection of students was not standardized and results of study, inaccurate

Some other concerns we had Clinical Interview The clinical interviews were conducted in a 1:1 setup. In the clinical interviews, the clinicians were able to direct and redirect the child’s thinking in order to derive the required answer. The question we raise is:- would the clinicians be able to conduct this in a class of 25 children, unmask the “good mathematicians” successfully, conduct the interview successfully or would they also be in the same position as the teachers????

Some other concerns we had Maths Anxiety Why were the 12 students successful at the clinical interview? Was it because of the clinical interview or was it because they were relaxed? Why didn’t they do well in the test? Was it because they didn’t know how to do it or was it because they might have suffered from maths anxiety and Stress of sitting for a test. Note: environment in which the test and clinical interview were completely different. Children did far better when they were relaxed and in a 1:1 environment.

Some other concerns we had Last one- that’s a promise! Different Learning Styles Were the children successful because of the clinical interview or was it because of their different learning styles? The children could have been auditory learners because they needed to verbalize the question out aloud in order to process the Information before answering the questions. Is it because then that these children did badly in a test set-up because reading out aloud was not permitted under those conditions. Why wasn’t individual learning styles catered for in this case study given the fact that people learn differently ?

This slide is created as part of a Maths Presentation. Naserah Khan