Implementing Non-Routine Mathematics Problems in Elementary and Middle School Classrooms: A Study of Teacher Agency in Practice

Abstract

Non-routine problems require students to engage in mathematical reasoning beyond procedural computation. Although research shows that such problems enhance mathematical understanding, elementary and middle school teachers face implementation challenges. We lack an understanding of how teachers navigate these challenges and exercise agency to implement reform practices despite constraints. Therefore, this study examined how elementary and middle school mathematics teachers exercise agency when implementing non-routine problems. Using a basic qualitative research design grounded in interpretive methodology (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), I interviewed 13 elementary and middle school mathematics teachers in Western New York who regularly implement non-routine problems. I utilized Priestley et al.'s (2015) ecological agency framework to analyze their practices, as it conceptualizes agency as emerging from the interplay among teachers' goals, practices, materials, and institutional contexts. My analysis revealed that teachers exercised agency through task modifications, curriculum adaptations, and strategic responses to constraints. Yet collaboration and material sharing did not ensure consistent implementation. Analysis identified three cross-dimensional pathways: the Goals-to-Practice pathway, in which teachers maintained consistency by aligning implementation choices with stated goals; the Constraint-Navigation pathway, in which structural constraints sequentially activated material responses that influenced timing decisions; and the Collaboration-Complexity pathway, where teachers selectively transferred shared materials based on individual goals. These three mechanisms advance ecological agency theory by explaining how agency dimensions interact during implementation. The findings suggest that teachers exercise agency in different ways, requiring different forms of support depending on which pathway operates in particular implementation contexts.