This dissertation is a two-part study comparing U.S. and Chinese teachers' beliefs and noticing patterns. The overarching question for this study is: "How does culture influence what mathematics teachers believe and notice?" This project seeks to investigate this central assumption: there are distinctly "Western" and "East Asian" pedagogical features that inform what teachers believe and notice about teaching and learning. Paper one seeks to clarify the role of cultural stereotypes in shaping teachers' personal beliefs and perceptions of their culture's beliefs on teaching and learning. In Paper two, group differences between U.S. and Chinese teachers' beliefs and noticing are analyzed with respect to these stereotypical pedagogical features (SPFs).This project combines two research areas, cross-cultural comparisons of teachers' beliefs and cross-cultural studies of teacher noticing, to present a distinction of the pedagogical features that seem to underlie Western and East Asian teachers' practices. This dissertation takes a unique approach to assessing teachers' pedagogical beliefs. Across both studies, teachers' personal beliefs are assessed separately from their cultural beliefs. Further, the concept of "cultural beliefs" is defined as an individual's perception of the shared values held by most members of a cultural group, as well as social structures such as the relationship between parents and children or the relationship between teachers and students (Leung, 2006).Findings of these studies indicate that the cultural distinctions between "Western" and "Eastern" are becoming blurred as East Asian educators, such as the Chinese participants in this study, take up more "Western" pedagogical theories and practices. Chinese teachers' personable beliefs indicate a definite shift towards "Western"-oriented features such as child-centeredness, process-orientation, and intrinsic motivation, even as they perceive China's cultural orientation as being more "Eastern" (Study One). But a closer examination of Chinese teachers' perceptions of a student-centered lesson compared to a teacher-directed lesson tells a different story: teachers' interpretations and responses continue to both impart and reflect stereotypically "Eastern" features (Study Two). At first blush, these findings seem to reinforce the claim that Chinese teachers are more likely to notice "Eastern" features because of cultural preferences for teacher-directed instruction. In contrast to previous claims, however, this dissertation argues that certain "Eastern" features-such as abstract representation, subject matter knowledge, and highly-structured lessons- are conducive for supporting student-centered noticing, particularly in addressing students' mathematical thinking.The significance of these findings is discussed in terms of finding a balanced perspective that draws upon the strengths of "Western" and "East Asian" paradigms to develop a more holistic model of teacher practice. This perspective is discussed in terms of how it may inform cross-cultural approaches to developing student-centered noticing skills, and future research in teacher noticing and beliefs.
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