CLINICAL INTERVIEW By Yu-Jou Feng

Introduction Main Goals of a Clinical Interview Here you will describe the main goals of clinical interviews for students and teachers in one or two paragraphs. According to Ginsburg (year), clinical interviews are __. Connections between Clinical Interviews and Formative Assessments Clinical interviews are similar to formative assessments because __. Clinical interviews differ from formative assessments because __. Research Question This clinical interview focused on revealing the thoughts and understanding of a math task about dividing fractions. The problem was ___. In addition to solving this problem, several follow-up questions were included such as why do you invert and multiply? and what does it mean to reduce a fraction? Hypotheses Based on the CI-Self assignment, there are several possible explanations to the Clinical Interview Task. One is . Another explanation is Method Subjects Demeanor and Background My younger brother, Antonio, was the subject for my clinical interview. Antonio is a freshman in high school and as a student he obtains As and Bs in his classes. Because he took

advanced math, algebra, in middle school, he is now taking geometry. He informed me that he enjoys mathematics very much because solving math problems are like solving puzzles. I asked Antonio if he would be willing to answer and explain some simple math problems for a school project, and he quickly accepted. He was excited to help me and to put into practice what he had learned in school. Environment of Interview The interview took place at the kitchen table at home. There were few distractions, if any. Paper, different colored pencils, and a calculator were provided to the subject to show work and elaborate on his thinking. The videocamera was several feet away to record the interview in order to transcribe it for analysis. Expectations for Subjects Deep Understanding Explain the degree to which the interviewer expected the subject to be able to reveal deep understanding of the CI task. I think that Antonio will be able to give a detailed explanation of the CI task because ___. I think he will struggle in ___.

Results Exemplar Thought Revealing Questions and Responses I am going to choose the best two thought-revealing questions I asked and explain why I think they were the best to reveal the subjects thinking. Exemplar Multiple Representation or Redirection Questions and Responses I am going to choose two good examples of a question focused on multiple representations or redirection. I am going to explain why they were the best in terms of understanding the depth of a persons thinking.

Discussion What the Subject Understands I thanked my brother for participating and for explaining his answers. Although he was not able to explain it at an elementary level with pictures, solving the problem algebraically made sense to him. He assured me that he enjoyed the concept and found reason in it. Using algebra ha was able to prove the rules he had learned. Antonio found different ways of solving the problem I presented him with and he was satisfied when he proved to rule he was taught. I was able to learn that he did value understanding the concept. He attempted to find reason to his methods even when they were erroneous, and succeeded in doing it for him. Once he clarified to himself which were the right and wrong methods, the ones that were right gave him the same answer, proving to him that the mathematical rules had reason behind them. What the Subject Does Not Understand or Gaps in Understanding Describe what parts of the CI task the subject does not understand or potential gaps in the subjects understanding. Resources to Bridge Gaps in Understanding Of the various videos and articles provided, identify which article would help bridge the gaps in understanding and justify why. Limitations of this Clinical Interview There are several limitations in this clinical interview. Conclusion What it Means to Understand and Know

Explain what it means to UNDERSTAND in math/science; compare when people say they KNOW something vs. the level of understanding) Evaluation of Clinical Interviews to Understand Student A benefit to doing clinical interviews to understand student thinking is ___. A concern about doing clinical interviews is that ____. The Importance of Formative Assessments Overall, I believe that I may modify the use of clinical interviews as a teacher by ___ because ___.

References

See Syllabus for readings.

Appendix A: Figures

Figure 1. Antonio works out the problem the first time.

Figure 2. Antonio cross multiplies 3/24 and 1/6 and refers to the numbers over the fractions as being equivalent to .

Figure 3. Shading of the graph

Figure 4. Antonio Inverts the second fraction and multiplies both fractions

Figure 5. Antonio rewrites the original problem with the first fraction over the second in order to divide.

Figure 6. Antonio sets up the equation equal to X.

Figure 7: Antonio converts the original problem into decimals.

Appendix B: Transcript with Highlighted Questions

Interview transcript.docx

Appendix C: Draft Review Documentation (Embed the file)

Appendix D: Self-Evaluation Table

CIP SelfEvalTable.docx