A Technology Preservice Program for Secondary Mathematics Teachers

No abstract available for this article.     

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Voices Describe How Their Teacher Motivated Them to do Mathematics

In this study, data in the form of (preservice teacher) student voices taken from mathematical autobiographies, written at the beginning of the semester, and end-of-semester reflections, were analyzed in order to examine why preservice elementary school teachers were highly motivated in a social constructivist mathematics course in which the teacher emphasized mastery goals. The findings suggest that students entered the course with a wide variety of feelings about mathematics and their own mathematical ability. At the end of the semester, students wrote about aspects of the course that “led to their growth as a mathematical thinker and as a mathematics teacher…” Student responses were coded within themes that emerged from the data: Struggle; Construction of meaning [mathematical language; mathematical understanding]; Grouping [working in groups]; Change [self-efficacy; math self-concept]; and the Teacher’s Role. These themes are described using student voices and within a motivation goal theory framework. The role of struggle, in relation to motivation, is discussed.     

“I Won't Last Three Weeks”: Preservice Science Teachers Reflect on Their Student-Teaching Experiences

In many teacher preparation programs, student teaching serves as a culminating event that bridges academic coursework and the realities of classroom teaching. Therefore, it represents a significant aspect of preservice teacher education. This study explored student teaching as it was experienced by 13 middle and secondary science preservice teachers. Qualitative techniques were used to analyze individual interviews, group seminar sessions, and written reflections to construct a phenomenological account of student teaching as experienced by the preservice teachers. The aim was to construct a picture of the shared experiences of these student teachers to help understand how they struggled, succeeded, and learned as a part of their classroom practica. These findings are then used to draw implications for science teacher education.     

Mathematics Anxiety In Preservice Elementary School Teachers

Mathematics anxiety is a condition that exists in many children and adults. Studies (Bulmahn & Young, 1982, Kelly & Tomhave, 1985) have indicated that about 10% of all preservice elementary school teachers have mathematics anxiety. The author verified this statistic in a research study conducted by Basta & Unglaub (1994). In fact, with the particular sample used in the 1994 study (79 preservice elementary school teachers) the number of high mathematics anxious rose to 11.4% based on the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (Suinn, 1972).     

Noticing Children’s Learning Processes – Teachers Jointly Reflect on Their Own Classroom Interaction for Improving Mathematics Teaching

One could focus on many different aspects of improving the quality of mathematics teaching. For a better understanding of children’s mathematical learning processes or teaching and learning in general, reflection on and analysis of concrete classroom situations are of major importance. On the basis of experiences gained in a collaborative research project with elementary school teachers, several ideas about a professional reflection on one’s own instruction activities are explained. The paper focuses on joint reflection between teachers and researchers on the participating teacher’s own classroom interaction by means of concrete examples. It becomes clear that changes of one’s own interaction behavior will take place only in the long-term. Nevertheless such a joint professional reflection should be an essential component of teachers’ professional knowledge in a natural way.     

Noticing Children’s Learning Processes – Teachers Jointly Reflect on Their Own Classroom Interaction for Improving Mathematics Teaching

One could focus on many different aspects of improving the quality of mathematics teaching. For a better understanding of children’s mathematical learning processes or teaching and learning in general, reflection on and analysis of concrete classroom situations are of major importance. On the basis of experiences gained in a collaborative research project with elementary school teachers, several ideas about a professional reflection on one’s own instruction activities are explained. The paper focuses on joint reflection between teachers and researchers on the participating teacher’s own classroom interaction by means of concrete examples. It becomes clear that changes of one’s own interaction behavior will take place only in the long-term. Nevertheless such a joint professional reflection should be an essential component of teachers’ professional knowledge in a natural way. An erratum to this article can be found at     

数学教师应努力提高教学思维能力

教师学历的达标是一个短期的明确的目标,而教学水平的提高是一个更重要的长期的过程,这将取决于教师对教学的理性认识———教学思维能力。本文就数学教师教学思维的特点和提高谈些自己的看法。     

职前数学教师如何应对学生的概率错误

概率是中国中小学课程的重要组成部分.学生对概率的学习往往存在诸多困难,这也使得教师面临许多挑战.教师要学会诊断和利用学生在不同情境中出现的错误,帮助学生更好地认识和理解概率.通过设计一个有关概率的情境问题,对48名职前数学教师的数学教学知识进行了测试,结果表明:(1)尽管职前教师都能求出情境中的概率,但是仅有少数能真正解释学生的错误;(2)职前教师对学生错误的解释,会直接影响他们教学设计的水平.     

Forms of Knowing Mathematics: What Preservice Teachers Should Learn

What important ideas about forms of knowing mathematics should be included in mathematics methods courses for preservice teachers? Ideas are proposed that are related to categories in Shulman's (1986) framework of teacher knowledge. There is a brief discussion of the implications each idea holds for teaching mathematics, and some suggestions are given about experiences that may help preservice teachers appreciate these notions. One portion of Shulman's pedagogical content knowledge construct is knowing what makes a subject difficult and what preconceptions students are apt to bring. Three of the ideas offered for inclusion in a methods course are related to this aspect of pedagogical content knowledge: (1) Understanding students' understanding is important, (2) Students knowing in one way do not necessarily know in the other(s), and (3) intuitive understanding is both an asset and a liability. The last two ideas, are related to the other portion of pedagogical content knowledge, knowing how to make the subject comprehensible to learners. These ideas are (4) certain characteristics of instruction appear to promote retention, and (5) providing alternative representations and recognizing and analyzing alternative methods are important. Readers are asked to consider if the suggestions offered are appropriate and how they might best be taught.     

Using a Conceptual-Change Approach to Help Preservice Science Teachers Reorganize Their Knowledge Structures for Constructivist Teaching

This study, based on constructivist learning theory, examined how effectively preservice chemistry teachers (N = 43) can be educated to think flexibly and to reorganize their thinking in a way that may complement diverse ways students approach the subject domain. The teacher's cognitive structure was assessed prior to and after a conceptual change intervention using flow-map narrative analyses. There was a significant change in the organization of the preservice teacher's narrative after the conceptual change intervention, including greater networking of ideas and more thematic development of the content. Hence, a conceptual change approach may be a useful way to educate teachers to be more responsive to student individual differences when planning and delivering science lessons.     

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.     

Teaching Preservice Teachers to Read the Discourse of School Reform

In this article, I argue for redesigned preservice teacher education courses that provide opportunities for teaching students to read the discourse of school reform, especially in terms of how that discourse both restricts and builds capacity for the kinds of teachers they want to become. Drawing from the experiences of three preservice teachers who opted out of teaching, I attempt to show how their experiences intersected with my own journey from experimentalist training into critical hermeneutic work and, more recently, into policy and editorial arenas to produce sites in which to explore the discourse of current reform efforts in literacy education in the United States.     

职前中学数学教师教育实践能力培养策略研究

现行职前教师培养模式存在专业特点不明显、职业技能教育薄弱、教育实践能力较差等问题。本文在剖析问题存在的根本原因基础上,提出变革传统的人才培养途径对此——分层次、分阶段地培养职前教师教育实践能力。     

Changes in Belief Orientations of Preservice Teachers and Their Relation to Inquiry Activities

Research in science education suggests that teachers?? beliefs are linked to the use of inquiry-based instruction; teachers holding a constructivist belief are more likely to engage in student-centered activities in the classroom. However, there is currently little research on the ways in which teachers?? beliefs change over time, and in particular, the relationship between instructional activities in teacher education programs and their impact on teachers?? beliefs. We examined shifts in secondary preservice teachers?? belief orientations as they progressed through a science methods course. We found that overall many of the preservice teachers progressed in their orientation beliefs from a teacher-centered orientation to more student-centered orientation. We characterized four trajectories of change or clusters that describe how preservice teachers?? beliefs changed over the course of the semester (15?weeks). We also describe the different ways in which preservice teachers reacted to specific instructional activities, and how those activities influenced their belief orientation. In particular, we found that preservice teachers in a cluster that exhibited a particular trajectory (progression or regression toward/away from student-centered belief orientation) reacted differently to some activities compared to preservice teachers in some other clusters. We discuss these shifts as reflecting changes in priorities of beliefs within belief systems. We argue that teacher educators need to think carefully about the interplay of these beliefs when designing activities so that they can respond (i.e., to a reversal in beliefs) during the course rather than waiting until the end.     

Learning to Question: Categories of Questioning Used by Preservice Teachers During Diagnostic Mathematics Interviews

Developing appropriate questioning techniquesis an important part of mathematics teachingand assessment. This study examined thequestioning strategies used by 48 preserviceteachers during one-on-one diagnosticmathematics interviews with children. Eachparticipant conducted an audiotaped interviewwith one child, followed by an analysis andreflection of the interview. Data wereanalyzed to develop general categories ofquestions used by the preservice teachers. These categories included: 1) checklisting, 2) instructing rather thanassessing, and 3) probing and follow-upquestions. The analyses and reflectionscompleted by preservice teachers indicated thatusing the diagnostic interview format allowedthem to recognize and reflect on effectivequestioning techniques. Through an examinationof these categories of questions, we offersuggestions for teaching the skill ofmathematics questioning in preservice teachereducation courses.     

中学数学教师素质的类型及其评价

根据现代中学数学教师在教学中所表现出来的主要素质特征,可将现代中学数学教师划分为4个类型:表演型教师、应试型教师、学者型教师、竞赛型教师.表演型教师的特点是:联想丰富,表达能力强,课堂教学生动.应试型教师的特点是:课堂教学注重知识点的落实,注重题型的训练,注重公式定理的运用.学者型教师的特点是:善于研究,善于发现,善于探索,课堂教学常采用探究性的教学模式.竞赛型教师的特点是:解题能力强,认识问题深刻,思维跳跃性大,课堂教学粗糙.只有同时具有4种素质的复合型教师才能真正受到学校和社会的全方位好评.     

Factors Affecting Science Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Basic Irony: Examining the Foundations of School Mathematics With Preservice Teachers

This article reports on an inquiry into what tends to be taken for granted with regard to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The inquiry, undertaken in the context of a course on methods for mathematics teaching, was developed around an examination of the mathematical notions that infuse conventional theories of cognition and that permeate the structures and practices of school mathematics. In particular, concepts drawn from or aligned with Euclidean geometry were examined. Specifically, alternatives drawn from fractal geometry were explored. The importance of interrogating the often-transparent figurative underpinnings of our thinking about thinking is highlighted.     

Female Preservice Teachers and Mathematics: Anxiety,Beliefs, and Stereotypes

The purpose of the current study was to examine if preservice teachers’ (PSTs) mathematics anxiety decreased and if their beliefs and stereotypes changed after they completed their early childhood mathematics methods course. It was hypothesized that by using and modeling concrete materials or manipulatives (Thompson, 1992; Vinson, 2001) and placing a greater emphasis on conceptual understanding (Bursal & Paznokas, 2006), two strategies identified as reducing PSTs’ mathematics anxiety, negative beliefs, and stereotypes that are associated with math anxiety, would diminish. Thirty preservice teachers, all female, participated in this study. Using a qualitative research approach, measures included midcourse evaluations, a draw-a-mathematician task (Mewborn & Cross 2007), the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (Hopko, Mahadevan, Bare, & Hunt, 2003), and anecdotal notes. Although we were encouraged that the math anxiety experienced by our preservice teachers slightly decreased by the end of the semester, it was discouraging to find minimal change of beliefs and stereotypes of mathematicians. This confirms that many preservice teachers enter teacher education programs with well-established images of how to do school, along with entrenched beliefs about mathematics and their ability to do math (Vacc & Bright 1999) and these beliefs are very difficult to change.