Valuing pedagogy in implementing an affect-focused mathematics teaching with technology support: Valuing playful teaching vs. game technology

This study aims to identify teachers' selection/adoption of valuing pedagogy (VP) to implement an affect-focused mathematics teaching design with technological support. Valuing pedagogy is defined as teaching methods to address educational values and operationally defined as perceived, implemented, and received curricula, manifested by teacher perception, implementation, and assessment used to gain student responses to the teaching or learning outcomes. This study focused on two teachers. They were interviewed for their perceived curricula, interviewed and videotaped their teaching for implemented curricula, and students' responses to teacher assessments for perceived curricula. Qualitative data analysis with quantitative data support found three teacher roles for VP (VP's ABC): Affective human players, Behavioral socializing facilitators, and Cognitive knowledge guides. The analysis also identified two distinct valuing pedagogies. Valuing playful teaching mixes VP's ABC, teachers viewing students as natural learners, supported by teacher playful emotions and intensive social interactions to help students gain cognitive knowledge. Valuing game technology focuses on letting students make sense of game technology and VP's BC; thereby students become testers for technology. The VP of playful teaching generates a positive class atmosphere, while that of game technology generates a neutral one. A slight infusion of playful emotions into gamification technology may be the key to positivity in serious play for learning mathematics.