A model for incorporating lesson study into the student teaching placement: what worked and what did not?

This article describes a model for incorporating lesson study into the student teaching placement and reports on the success of the implementation of such a model with student teachers and their cooperating teachers (CTs). Student teachers had the opportunity to discuss many important ideas with each other and their CTs, including “big ideas” of mathematics, and the anticipation of student questions and possible responses. Student teachers also had a built‐in opportunity for peer observation on a regular basis and the opportunity to collaborate with their peers. Certain important aspects of lesson study were not present in this implementation: the teachers involved did not discuss the gaps in their own knowledge with the goal of improving their own mathematical understanding, they did not refer outside sources for ideas for the lessons, and they did not have an overarching affective goal for students. Suggestions are made for teacher preparation in light of these findings.     

Context as mediator: teaching residents’ opportunity and learning in high-need urban schools

This article presents findings from an exploratory empirical study of teaching residents’ opportunities and learning within the overlapping contexts of English as a Second Language (ESL)/special education classrooms and high-need urban schools. Utilizing documentation from the first year of a teacher residency program, our findings illustrate the central role that mentor teachers play in determining the kinds of opportunities afforded to teaching residents and the ways in which factors unique to these clinical contexts shape learning. Implications center on the preparation of mentor teachers and the work of teacher education programs in the US.     

小学数学教师教学技能解析

准确把握专家教师教学专长的发展规律,对教师教育非常重要。以课堂教学过程和要素、教师专业发展阶段、教学专长维度的视角,解析小学数学教师教学技能发展的内涵,为教师专业发展中的技能训练规划奠定基础。     

THE SYSTEM OF COORDINATES AS AN OBSTACLE IN UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF DIMENSION

The concept of dimension, one of the most fundamental ideas in mathematics, is firmly rooted in the basis of the school geometry in such a way that mathematics teachers rarely feel the need to mention anything about it. However, the concept of dimension is far from being fully understood by students, even at the college level. In this paper, we examine whether the Cartesian x-y plane is responsible for student difficulty in estimating the value of the dimension of an object, or is it only students misconceptions about dimension that lead them to a false estimation of the value of the dimension of various objects. A second question discussed in this paper examines whether the system of coordinates acts as an epistemological obstacle or whether it has only a didactical character.     

Preservice Teachers' Stories Of Mathematics Classrooms: Explorations Of Practice Through Fictional Accounts

This report describes four preservice secondary teachers' fictional accounts about mathematics classrooms. The narrative structures and meanings of the preservice teachers' stories, written while the preservice teachers were enrolled in a secondary methods course, were examined with the goal of gaining insight into the preservice teachers' emerging identities as mathematics teachers. Although past research has examined experienced teachers' stories, little research, if any, has focused on stories written by preservice mathematics teachers or on intentionally fictional stories about mathematics classrooms. This report uses methods of narrative analysis to develop understandings about preservice teachers' storied identities and specifies areas for further investigation into the role of narrative in mathematics teacher education.     

Social justice and school linkages in teacher education programmes

This paper investigates current research into the role of education in combating social injustice, assembles this research to indicate key features of a teacher education programme that would assist education for social justice, and links these features to one innovative university teacher education programme to ascertain some of the practical difficulties in establishing such a programme. The research indicated key approaches that would enhance the probability that graduates from teacher education programmes will be able to pursue social justice initiatives.     

Beliefs About the Teacher’s Role in theMathematics Classroom: One Student Teacher’s Explorations in Fiction and in Practice

This case study of a preservice secondary mathematics teacher focuses on the teacher’s beliefs about his role as mathematics teacher. Data were collected over the final 5 months of the teacher’s university teacher education program through interviews, written course assignments, and observations of student-teaching. Findings indicate that the preservice teacher valued classroom roles in which students, rather than the teacher, explained traditional mathematics content. As his student-teaching internship progressed, the teacher began to develop new roles and engaged students in additional mathematical processes. These results emphasize the need for preservice teachers to recognize how teacher and student roles impact interrelationships between understanding and mathematical activity, and illustrate the nature of teacher learning that can occur during an internship.     

Mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy in elementary pre‐service teachers

This study investigated the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy among 156 elementary pre‐service teachers from a university in the southeastern United States. Data sources included the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument, and pre‐service teacher interviews. Findings revealed a significant, negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teachers’ efficacy (r = ?.475, p<.05). Specifically, the pre‐service teachers with the lowest degree of mathematics anxiety had the highest levels of mathematics teacher efficacy. Interviews with pre‐service teachers indicated that their mathematics anxiety is associated with efficaciousness toward mathematics teaching practices and is the basis for their mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs.     

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Mathematics Education in Urban Schools

This article reports findings from a study of preservice mathematics teacher education students and their beliefs about and experiences with students in an urban high school. The preservice teacher education students participated as mentors to a group of peer tutors in a mathematics tutoring program. Data collected from questionnaires and interviews reveal that the mentors had varied perceptions of tutoring program participants’ motivation, interest, and knowledge of mathematics. Mentors held varied perceptions of urban schools and what teaching mathematics in urban settings entails. Further, mentors reported that their work in the tutoring program had an impact on their strategies and plans for future mathematics teaching. Erica N. Walker is Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology and Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.     

The use of digital storytelling in elementary Math teachers’ education

Technological devices are widely used in various forms and for various purposes with educational systems. Teachers are required to not only use technology with the utmost efficiency, but to also act as role models for students in terms of appropriate use of technology. However, many teacher candidates are not aware of the educational use of technology classroom; hence, technology must be especially integrated into undergraduate teacher training programs through courses and field experience. Various methods, techniques, tools, and equipment are utilized in order to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning processes in the classroom, of which digital storytelling is one of them. The use of digital stories in education is beneficial both for teachers and students. For this reason, this research investigates the use of digital stories in mathematics education as well as the opinions and experiences of mathematics teacher candidates about creating, using, and evaluating digital stories. Data of the study were collected via semistructured interviews, transcribed, and content analyzed. The results of the study showed that prospective math teachers preferred GoAnimate program to create digital stories due to its ease of use, design, and the characters and visuals it suggests. Furthermore, the prospective teachers were found to aspire to use digital stories in their future careers.     

Feedback consistencies and inconsistencies: eight mentors’ observations on one preservice teacher’s lesson

Mentors play a key role in developing preservice teachers for their chosen careers, and providing feedback appears as a significant relational interaction between the mentor and mentee that assists in guiding the mentee’s practices. But what are mentors’ perspectives on providing feedback to their mentees? In this case study, eight mentors viewed a professional video-recorded science lesson facilitated by a final-year preservice teacher during practicum for the purposes of providing oral feedback in a simulated mentor–mentee discussion. Findings showed that mentors’ feedback was variable in both their positive feedback and constructive criticisms and, in one case, the feedback was contrasting in nature. Implications are discussed, including preservice teachers receiving feedback from more than one mentor and universities researching the design of valid and reliable tools to guide mentors’ oral feedback     

Variables of Educational Excellence

Secondary preservice teachers at Georgia Southern University have little knowledge of poverty or the lives of students who live in poverty. Preservice teachers rarely interact with others who live outside their self-reported middle-class status. In this article, the author examines the effects a study of poverty has on the philosophy and practice of secondary education preservice teachers. Themes that emerged were development of awareness of socioeconomic differences, development of empathetic rapport and caring attitudes, and development of a commitment to culturally responsive teaching. The author also discusses the implication of this research on classroom practice and the broader scope of teacher education.     

The Learning and Teaching of Statistical Investigation in Teaching and Teacher Education

Current national standards in mathematicseducation in the United States call forrevision of content and pedagogy, including theaddition of statistics as a new topic in theelementary curriculum. The purpose of thisstudy is to examine the collaborative effortsof a mathematics educator and statistician tohelp prospective elementary teachers developstatistical knowledge and experience throughmerging statistical investigation into existingelementary curricula. Findings from this studyoffer insight into preservice teachers'statistical and pedagogical content knowledgebased on their application of the process ofstatistical investigation themselves and withchildren. Findings also indicate thatintegrating statistics into the elementarycurriculum is a more difficult and complexteaching and learning problem than expected.