Chinese expert teachers’ implementation of U.S. mathematics textbook lessons

Abstract This study explored how international expertise can inform mathematics teaching in the U.S. Specifically, Chinese expert elementary mathematics teachers were invited to plan and teach U.S. textbook lessons. Guided by the ICAP framework, which categorizes cognitive engagement into Interactive (I), Constructive (C), Active (A), and Passive (P) levels (I > C > A > P in learning outcomes), we analyzed how Chinese first grade teachers may have adapted students’ learning opportunities of an early algebra idea (inverse relations) as presented in the intended U.S. curricula. Through quantitative analysis of qualitative verbal data, we found that the Chinese teachers’ planned and enacted curricula, especially with worked examples, consistently elevated students’ cognitive engagement, shifting learning opportunities from shallow (P, A) to deep (I, C) levels compared to baseline U.S. data. Follow-up qualitative analyses revealed that Chinese teachers tended to employ two types of deep questions—meaning-making and comparisons—to facilitate representational connections and inference making, which particularly contributed to this shift. Implications and future research directions are discussed.