Developing Elementary Education Candidates’ Skills to Elicit and Interpret Student Thinking through a Mathematics Tutoring Clinical Experience

Teacher educators and educational leaders have emphasized the importance of teachers who can effectively elicit and interpret their students’ thinking. This study included the development of elementary education candidates’ capacity to elicit and interpret student thinking while serving as tutors to primary grades students who had not yet met grade level expectations from the previous year. This multi-methods study included data from written reflections and surveys. In reflections, candidates reported growth in their questioning techniques, seeing their primary students’ grow in their understanding of mathematics concepts. A one-way ANOVA with survey data indicated statistically significant differences on pre- and post-surveys on candidates’ eagerness to work with individual students in mathematics, their preparation to work with students in math, and their willingness to teach mathematics to students experiencing poverty. The article closes with implications for teacher education programs to promote candidates’ enactment of practices related to eliciting and interpreting students’ thinking in early childhood and elementary education settings.