After eliciting: Variation in elementary mathematics teachers’ discursive pathways during collaborative problem solving

Mathematics teachers are called on to craft instruction that centers students’ mathematical ideas and creates consistent, pervasive opportunities for meaning-making through discourse. In the context of collaborative problem solving, teachers can use eliciting and probing to uncover student thinking while students work together to develop mathematical ideas and strategies. After eliciting and probing, teachers can further respond to the student thinking that has been revealed. This study explored the discursive pathways two fourth grade mathematics teachers used after eliciting student thinking, when their aim was to be responsive to and advance student thinking. Drawing on interactions (n = 97) from nine lessons, qualitative analysis identified five distinct discursive pathways after eliciting, two of which, praise and funneling, were associated with the nature of student understanding uncovered during eliciting. Implications for future research and professional development on teacher-student discourse are discussed.