Topic: Academic Performance
Target Population: Middle Childhood, Providers
Sector: School-Based
This program is for elementary math educators and their students.
Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), a school-based professional development program, is designed to create relationships between knowledge and problem-solving applications in math for teachers and students.
A randomized controlled trial with a pretest and posttest was conducted with 1st grade students and teachers. CGI teachers were found to spend significantly more time on word problems with their students than teachers in the control group, and CGI teachers listened more frequently to students' problem-solving methods. Additionally, CGI teachers used more cognitively guided instruction, and students of CGI classrooms reported more confidence in their mathematical abilities. However, no significant differences were found in CGI children's mathematical abilities or academic achievements on standardized measures.
The CGI program intends to help teachers identify and understand students' knowledge and thinking patterns and encourages teachers to use this understanding to guide their students' instruction. CGI seeks to change the way in which teachers deliver math instruction, so the concepts are more intuitive for students.
Teachers encourage students to solve math problems in their own ways and then instruct the students to explain their steps to their teachers and peers. Story problems are used before students learn to write number sentences.
This program uses lectures, discussions, and new teaching techniques. Teachers review existing research on math instruction and learn to design and incorporate new information into lessons.
This program has been used in the United States and New Zealand since 1989.
Classroom teachers implement this program, and professional development services are available from Heinemann. Please visit https://www.heinemann.com/pd/default.aspx or use details in the Contact section to learn more.
Considerations for implementing this program include acquiring teacher and administrative buy-in, obtaining training for teachers, and fulfilling curricular requirements.
The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
If you are interested in implementing CGI, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you!
Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Implementation time varies and depends on concepts studied, teachers' methods, and students' needs. Please use details in the Contact section for additional information.
Teacher textbooks range in price from approximately $24 to $30. For more information, please visit https://www.heinemann.com/cgimath/.
To move CGI to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence, at least one additional peer-reviewed evaluation should be performed demonstrating positive effects lasting at least one year from the beginning of the program or at least six months from program completion.
The Clearinghouse can help you develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185 Email: Clearinghouse@psu.edu
You may also contact Heinemann Publishing by mail P.O. Box 528, Portsmouth, NH 03801, phone 1-800-225-5800, fax 1-603-547-9917, email custserv@heinemann.com, or visit https://www.heinemann.com/help.aspx
Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., Peterson, P. L., Chiang, C., & Loef, M. (1989). Using knowledge of children's mathematics thinking in classroom teaching: An experimental study. American Educational Research Journal, 26(4), 499-531. https://doi.org/10.2307/1162862
Moore, S., & Cuevas, J. A. (2022). The effects of cognitively guided phonetic instruction on achievement and self efficacy in elementary students in a response to intervention program. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 6(4), 35-49.
