Socio-emotional orientations and teacher change

In this article we consider how elementary education students’ views of mathematics changed during their mathematics methods course. We focus on four female students: two started the course with mainly positive views of mathematics and a task orientation, two with negative views of the subject and an ego-defensive orientation. The biggest change observed was that the trainees’ views of teaching and learning mathematics became more positive. Moreover, what had been an ego-defensive orientation changed towards a social-dependence orientation. The crucial facilitators of change seemed to be (1) handling of and reflection on one’s experiences of learning and teaching mathematics, (2) exploring content with concrete materials, and (3) collaboration with a partner or working as a tutor of mathematics.

What are Finnish Teacher Educators’ Conceptions about the Teaching of Problem Solving in Mathematics?

The aim of this study was to determine Finnish teacher educators’ conceptions about problem solving, the teaching of problem solving and the prerequisites they feel its teaching requires. Teacher educators’ conceptions were collected with two questionnaires within a two‐part seminar on problem solving which was held in 1986 and 1987. Analysis of the resulting percentage tables yielded some information about the teacher educators’ conceptions about the teaching of problem solving. The highest level of consensus was obtained for statements that reflect an open‐minded approach to teaching. The consensus was lowest for the statement which stated that mathematical formalism should be stressed.     

Teachers’ Professional Development: what are the key change factors for mathematics teachers?

Our purpose is to answer the question: what have been the key factors causing a discontinuity in teachers’ professional development? We gathered data from experienced German teachers (N = 13) during the spring of 1994, with a brief questionnaire and interview. During the interviews, a total of 49 statements about change were mentioned. We could compress these statements into 15 change factors. New findings, that is, change factors which were not earlier reported in the literature, were as follows: experiences and observations with teachers’ own children, teachers’ experiences with other forms of schooling, and changes in society.