Promoting Discourse in Mathematics Classrooms Using a New Video Series for Middle Schools.

"Becoming Successful Problem Solvers" is a 12-episode video series designed for use with middle school students. The materials are intended to create new assessment tools for teachers, to develop instructional devices that are useful in promoting problem solving in middle school classrooms, and to promote classroom discourse about problem solving and misconceptions about mathematics. From a pool of volunteer teachers in 3 counties, 28 pairs of fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms were chosen. In each pair, one classroom was randomly assigned to an experimental group, with the other a control. Sections of this paper discuss the importance of classroom discourse and the nature of the video series; describe one of the 12 episodes (on fitting as many 3" x 5" pictures as possible into a 14" x 21" frame); examine students' and teachers' behaviors while utilizing the series; and report results of an evaluation study of the series. The study compared the misconceptions, beliefs, and attitudes about problem solving of students from 14 classes that viewed 6 episodes of the videotape series with students from 14 classes that viewed 1 episode of the series. Results indicate that: (1) the videotape series offers teachers an easy-to-use method for promoting classroom discourse; (2) a connection was confirmed between problem-solving performance in mathematics and students' beliefs about problem solving, communication, reasoning, and connections; (3) use of the series materials has beneficial effects on those beliefs and students' problem-solving performance; and (4) there is a plausible causal link between changing students' beliefs and improving their problem-solving performance through discourse. Sample surveys and test questions are included. (MDH)