The power of Colombian mathematics teachers’ conceptions of social/institutional factors of teaching

In this paper I shall discuss data from a study on Colombian mathematics teachers’ conceptions of their own teaching practices of beginning algebra, which led to the development of a theoretical model of teachers’ thought structures designed as a thinking tool at the initial stage of the study. With a focus on the perspectives of teachers, the study investigated the relationship between the teachers’ conceptions of beginning algebra and their conceptions of their own teaching practices, with a view to unravelling their conceptions of change in their practices. Significant findings which threw light on the aforementioned relationship have been presented in Agudelo-Valderrama, Clarke and Bishop (2007), highlighting a direct association between a teacher’s conceptions of the nature of beginning algebra, the crucial determinants of her/his teaching practice, and her/his attitude to change. After an overview of the study, this paper focuses on specific evidence which clearly shows that in contrast to the strong relationship between a teacher’s conceptions of mathematics and her/his teaching practice, assumed in the theoretical model of teachers’ thought structures, the teachers see a strong relationship between their conceptions of social/institutional factors of teaching and what they do in their teaching. Implications of the findings for teacher education in Colombia are identified.

Assessing Teachers’ Beliefs to Facilitate the Transition to a New Chemistry Curriculum: What Do the Teachers Want?

In this article, we describe the results of a study of chemistry high school teachers’ beliefs (N = 7) of the chemistry curriculum and their roles, their beliefs on the teacher as developer of materials, and their beliefs about professional development. Teachers’ beliefs influence the implementation of a curriculum. We view the use of a new curriculum as a learning process, which should start at teachers’ prior knowledge and beliefs. The results reveal that it is possible to develop a new curriculum in which teachers’ beliefs are taken as a starting point. Promising approaches to prepare teachers for a new curriculum is to let them (co)develop and use curriculum materials: It creates ownership, and strengthens and develops teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK).

Mathematical belief change in prospective primary teachers

The development and influence of beliefs in teacher education has been a topic of increasing interest for researchers in recent years. This study explores the responses of a group of prospective primary teachers to attempts to facilitate belief change as part of their initial teacher education programme in mathematics. The students’ responses seemed to fall into three categories: non-engagement; building a new set of beliefs and; reforming existing beliefs. In this article the participants’ responses are outlined and illustrated with stories from three individuals. This study suggests that belief reform is complex and fraught with ethical dilemmas. Certainly there is a need for further research in this area, particularly given the pervasive influence of beliefs on teaching practice.

Working with artefacts: gestures, drawings and speech in the construction of the mathematical meaning of the visual pyramid

This paper reports a part of a study on the construction of mathematical meanings in terms of development of semiotic systems (gestures, speech in oral and written form, drawings) in a Vygotskian framework, where artefacts are used as tools of semiotic mediation. It describes a teaching experiment on perspective drawing at primary school (fourth to fifth grade classes), starting from a concrete experience with a Dürer’s glass to the interpretation of a new artefact. We analyse the long term process of appropriation of the mathematical model of perspective drawing (visual pyramid) through the development of gestures, speech and drawings under the teacher’s guidance.

The Influence of an Extensive Inquiry-Based Field Experience on Pre-Service Elementary Student Teachers’ Science Teaching Beliefs

This study examined the effects of an extensive inquiry-based field experience on pre service elementary teachers’ personal agency beliefs, a composite measure of context beliefs and capability beliefs related to teaching science. The research combined quantitative and qualitative approaches and included an experimental group that utilized the inquiry method and a control group that used traditional teaching methods. Pre- and post-test scores for the experimental and control groups were compared. The context beliefs of both groups showed no significant change as a result of the experience. However, the control group’s capability belief scores, lower than those of the experimental group to start with, declined significantly; the experimental group’s scores remained unchanged. Thus, the inquiry-based field experience led to an increase in personal agency beliefs. The qualitative data suggested a new hypothesis that there is a spiral relationship among teachers’ ability to establish communicative relationships with students, desire for personal growth and improvement, ability to implement multiple instructional strategies, and possession of substantive content knowledge. The study concludes that inquiry-based student teaching should be encouraged in the training of elementary school science teachers. However, the meaning and practice of the inquiry method should be clearly delineated to ensure its correct implementation in the classroom.

Tracing the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs in teaching mathematics during fieldwork

This paper focuses on efficacy beliefs with respect to teaching mathematics; it aims at testing and validating an existing scale for measuring efficacy beliefs in the domain of mathematics, examining the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs in mathematics during fieldwork, and identifying factors that contribute to the development of these beliefs. Exploratory factor analysis applied to longitudinal data collected through a questionnaire administered to almost 90 preservice teachers elicited a two-factor model, reflecting efficacy beliefs in mathematics instruction and classroom management. Using cluster analysis, we found four patterns in the development of preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs regarding these two factors. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight participants representing these four patterns suggested that preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs were mainly informed by experimentation with teaching and interaction with mentors, tutors, peers, and pupils. Based on our findings, we draw implications for mathematics preservice teacher education and provide suggestions for future research.

Forms of mathematical interaction in different social settings: examples from students’, teachers’ and teacher–students’ communication about mathematics

The study presented in this article investigates forms of mathematical interaction in different social settings. One major interest is to better understand mathematics teachers’ joint professional discourse while observing and analysing young students mathematical interaction followed by teacher’s intervention. The teachers’ joint professional discourse is about a combined learning and talking between two students before an intervention by their teacher (setting 1) and then it is about the students learning together with the teacher during their mathematical work (setting 2). The joint professional teachers’ discourse constitutes setting 3. This combination of social settings 1 and 2 is taken as an opportunity for mathematics teachers’ professionalisation process when interpreting the students’ mathematical interactions in a more and more professional and sensible way. The epistemological analysis of mathematical sign-systems in communication and interaction in these three settings gives evidence of different types of mathematical talk, which are explained depending on the according social setting. Whereas the interaction between students or between teachers is affected by phases of a process-oriented and investigated talk, the interaction between students and teachers is mainly closed and structured by the ideas of the teacher and by the expectations of the students.

Mexican-American Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Expectations: Do Perceptions Differ Depending on Student Achievement Levels?

This exploratory study examines the learning beliefs of high and low achieving, low-income Mexican-American students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 ninth grade students. The qualitative analysis shows that students’ perceptions of their teachers’ expectations of a “good” student or a “not so good” student did not differ along achievement lines. However, the students’ perceptions about what it means to be a good student differentiated the low-achievers from the high-achievers. This study’s findings may be used to inform educators about Mexican-American students’ orientation towards school and learning, in hopes for creating more equitable educational settings where all students achieve to their fullest potential.

A Cultural Perspective on Professional Beliefs of Childcare Teachers

Preschool is an institution for cultural preservation, which responds to social change. Guided by this assumption, this study used a recent video of Chinese preschool in conjunction with the questionnaire from Preschool in Three Cultures, a study by Joseph Tobin and his colleagues in the 1980s, to examine the cultural and professional beliefs of three groups of U.S. early childhood educators (preservice, inservice non-Head Start, and inservice Head Start). We examined participants’ cultural beliefs, critical comments on the preschool, and group differences in their comments. Results show that participants’ beliefs about necessary qualities for a teacher remained stable from the 1980s in the U.S. But a shift occurred in beliefs about why society needs preschools. More education and longer employment were linked significantly to more critical comments of Chinese practice. There was a marked difference in professional and cultural beliefs by educators’ group affiliations.

Supporting Teachers’ Use of Technology in Science Instruction Through Professional Development: A Literature Review

Professional development is critical in supporting teachers’ use of technological tools in classrooms. This review of empirical research synthesizes the effective elements of professional development programs that support science teachers in learning about technology integration. Studies are examined that explore how professional development supports technology use within inquiry-based and traditional science instruction. Implications for future research are discussed in four areas: understanding and building on teachers’ beliefs about science and technology; supporting teacher learning by supporting teachers’ examination of students’ work; using technology to support teacher communities and social networks; and sustaining teachers’ learning beyond formal professional development programs.

Looking for Daisy: constructing teacher identities

Research on teacher identities is both important and increasing. In this forum contribution I re-interpret assertions about an African American science teacher’s identities in terms of Jonathon Turner’s (2002) constructs of role identity and sub-identity. I contest the notion of renegotiation of identities, suggesting that particular role identities can be brought to the foreground and then backgrounded depending on the situation and the need to confirm a sub-identity. Finally, I recommend the inclusion of teachers’ voices in identity research through greater use of co-authoring roles for teachers.

Teachers’ Perspectives on a Professional Development Intervention to Improve Science Instruction Among English Language Learners

Our 5-year professional development intervention is designed to promote elementary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in teaching science, along with English language and mathematics for English Language Learning (ELL) students in urban schools. In this study, we used an end-of-year questionnaire as a primary data source to seek teachers’ perspectives on our intervention during the first year of implementation. Teachers believed that the intervention, including curriculum materials and teacher workshops, effectively promoted students’ science learning, along with English language development and mathematics learning. Teachers highlighted strengths and areas needing improvement in the intervention. Teachers’ perspectives have been incorporated into our on-going intervention efforts and offer insights into features of effective professional development initiatives in improving science achievement for all students.

Sreyashi Jhumki Basu: Building a more equitable world through science education

Dr. Sreyashi Jhumki Basu was a scholar committed to equity and social justice in science education who passed away in December 2008. In this essay, I describe Jhumki’s research and the call to action her life’s work has laid out for the science education community. In particular, I draw attention to the role of critical science agency in learning and the democratic science pedagogy model that Jhumki developed to support students in crafting such agency.

Using the history of mathematics to induce changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes: insights from evaluating a teacher education program

Scholars and teacher educators alike agree that teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward mathematics are key informants of teachers’ instructional approaches. Therefore, it has become clear that, in addition to enriching preservice teachers’ (PSTs) knowledge, teacher education programs should also create opportunities for prospective teachers to develop productive beliefs and attitudes toward teaching and learning mathematics. This study explored the effectiveness of a mathematics preparatory program based on the history of mathematics that aimed at enhancing PSTs’ epistemological and efficacy beliefs and their attitudes toward mathematics. Using data from a questionnaire administered four times, the study traced the development of 94 PSTs’ beliefs and attitudes over a period of 2 years. The analysis of these data showed changes in certain dimensions of the PSTs’ beliefs and attitudes; however, other dimensions were found to change in the opposite direction to that expected. Differences were also found in the development of the PSTs’ beliefs and attitudes according to their mathematical background. The data yielded from semi-structured follow-up interviews conducted with a convenience sample of PSTs largely corroborated the quantitative data and helped explain some of these changes. We discuss the effectiveness of the program considered herein and draw implications for the design of teacher education programs grounded in the history of mathematics.

Hybridity in a Guidance Curriculum in Hong Kong

This paper presents findings on a hybrid guidance curriculum in Hong Kong, a place where East meets West in education and in many other spheres. A qualitative case study method is applied that uses questions for understanding the ‘self’ in guidance but incorporates Confucian cardinal human relationships of parent–child, brother–sister, husband–wife, superior–subordinate, teacher–pupil and friend–friend in understanding the ‘other’ relationships. The study of ‘self–other relationship’ is combined with Lawton’s (Social change, educational theory and curriculum planning, Hodder, London, 1973) model of curriculum development in Western traditions. Data obtained from stakeholders in schools include traditional Chinese ideas as well as modern Western ideas. Implications of this framework to the study of other societies with a mix of Western and traditional cultures are discussed.

Psycho-Education with Asylum Seekers and Survivors of Torture

This article examines psycho-educational programmes for asylum-seekers and tortured refugees at the Danish Red Cross Asylum Department and Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture victims respectively. The psycho-education programme is based on a cognitive theoretical framework. However, it is argued that the processes observed during the programmes and the changes in the participants’ lives may be conjointly understood within theoretical frameworks of narrative therapy, social constructionism, and community psychology, emphasizing professionals’ and participants’ co-construction of alternative stories and action possibilities, and the importance of the context and social network outside the intervention context.

Analyses de séances en classe et stabilité des pratiques d’enseignants de mathématiques expérimentés du second degré

In this paper we tackle the issue of an eventual stability of teachers’ activity in the classroom. First we explain what kind of stability is searched and how we look for the chosen characteristics: we analyse the mathematical activity the teacher organises for students during classroom sessions and the way he manages the relationship between students and mathematical tasks. We analyse three one-hour sessions for different groups of 11 year old students on the same content and with the same teacher, and two other sessions for 14 year old and 15 year old students, on analogous contents, with the same teacher (another one). Actually it appears in these two examples that the main stabilities are tied with the precise management of the tasks, at a scale of some minutes, and with some subtle characteristic touches of the teacher’s discourse. We present then a discussion and suggest some inferences of these results.