Using virtual classroom simulations in a mathematics methods course to develop pre‐service primary mathematics teachers' noticing skills

Abstract This study proposed a low‐cost, easy to set up and easy to modify virtual classroom simulation environment, CartoonClass , and tested its impact on 27 pre‐service primary school teachers' noticing development during a semester‐long mathematics methods course. The participants' perceptions of using CartoonClass were also examined. A Wilcoxon signed‐rank test of the pre‐test and post‐test results showed that the participants (1) significantly developed their noticing skills, with regard to both general classroom events and attending‐to skills; and (2) significantly changed their focus on ‘mathematics thinking,’ an accepted indicator of better noticing skills. (3) However, a novel video‐summarising task aimed at detecting the participants' skills to quickly notice and grasp a complex teaching situation found no significant change in such ability over the course of the experiment. On the other hand, the qualitative data analysis showed the participants had positive perceptions of the virtual environment regarding realism, enjoyment and effectiveness. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic Using virtual classroom simulations can improve pre‐service teachers' expertise, but teacher educators need a low‐cost virtual environment that can be easily used in their own classrooms. Our understanding of using classroom simulations to improve teacher noticing is still limited. Using animation‐based assessment in teacher noticing is meaningful. Examining teacher noticing relies much on written reflections of watching videos but developing different types of tasks is critical. What this paper adds This study provided an economical and easy way to build a virtual classroom environment. Compared with previous classroom simulation studies, this study used a more structured instrument to examine pre‐service teachers' noticing performance. A novel task (write a full‐video outline with a short time watching) was created to examine teachers' noticing skills in quickly recognising a classroom situation. Implications for practice and/or policy The two types of questions (general and specific) in assessing teacher noticing yielded different results that may provide valuable insights for future research on this topic. As our pre‐service teachers developed only basic noticing skills (ie, attending‐to), we suggest that teacher educators should be provided with more intensive training in teacher noticing. Developing only attending‐to skills may be not sufficient for quickly recognising a classroom situation.