An Exploration of Pre-service Elementary Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching PDF Download

Author: Michael Jarry-Shore
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"AbstractMathematical knowledge for teaching, or MKT, is a critically important knowledge of mathematics unique to teachers and teaching. One aspect of MKT, specialized content knowledge (SCK), involves the ability to interpret nonstandard student solutions, represent relevant mathematical content non-symbolically, and explain standard math algorithms (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). A number of measures are currently available to those seeking to assess teachers' SCK, and still, this knowledge domain has "yet to be fully mapped" (Hill, 2010, p. 537). Nowhere is this lack of mapping more apparent than among pre-service teachers, who, due to a lack of teaching experience, are likely to exhibit SCK that is markedly different from that displayed by their in-service counterparts (Hill, 2010). Teacher practices and dispositions, while not a part of existing frameworks for SCK, are likely to play a key role in shaping the nature of this unique mathematical knowledge. This study sought to examine the nature of 11 pre-service teachers' specialized content knowledge, practices, and dispositions through the use of hour-long structured interviews (Ginsburg, Jacobs, & Lopez, 1998). In each interview, study participants were asked to interpret non-standard student solutions to two math problems, one involving a comparison of fractions and another involving multi-digit multiplication. Data gathered in this study indicate that pre-service teachers, unlike experienced teaching professionals, require greater support in two key aspects of SCK: generating non-symbolic representations and interpreting non-standard student solutions (Hill, 2007; Hill, 2010). Additionally, it would appear as though pre-service teachers would benefit from efforts to foster a flexible disposition, as such flexibility appears to augment one's specialized content knowledge (Hill. Dean & Goffney, 2007). The results of this study will inform teacher educators, who must make difficult choices when deciding how to design courses so as to make efficient use of what little time they are given to prepare pre-service teachers (Ball, Sleep, Boerst, & Bass, 2009; Hill, 2010; Kajander, 2010).Keywords: mathematical knowledge for teaching, specialized content knowledge, disposition, pre-service teacher" --

Author: Gabriel J. Stylianides
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331968342X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This book examines new trends and developments in research related to the mathematical education of pre-service elementary teachers, and explores the implications of these research advances for theory and practice in teacher education. The book is organized around the following four overarching themes: pre-service teachers’ mathematics content and mathematics-specific pedagogical preparation; professional growth through activities and assessment tools used in mathematics teacher preparation programs; pre-service mathematics teachers’ knowledge and beliefs; and perspectives on noticing in the preparation of elementary mathematics teachers. Including contributions from researchers working in 11 different countries, the book offers a forum for discussing and debating the state of the art regarding the mathematical preparation of pre-service elementary teachers. By presenting and discussing the findings of research conducted in different countries, the book offers also opportunities to readers to learn about varying teacher education practices around the world, such as: innovative practices in advancing or assessing teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, similarities and differences in the formal mathematics education of teachers, types of and routes in teacher education, and factors that can influence similarities or differences.

Author: Erin Coleen Morgart
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This study examines the impact that an adapted lesson study had on the development of elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) within a professional development school (PDS) context. Research suggests that PSTs enter teacher education lacking the subject matter knowledge needed to teach mathematics. This study represents an effort to identify a model for PST learning that can be used to continue to develop PSTs MKT after completing coursework. Using Shulmans pedagogical reasoning to adapt lesson study for PST learning, I created the pre-service teacher lesson study cycle (PST-LSC). This qualitative research study used case study methodology to investigate and analyze the development of four PSTs MKT while participating in the PST-LSC. To analyze growth in the PSTs MKT, pre- and post-interviews were conducted. Additionally, audio-recordings of discussions, lesson study artifacts, and PST journal responses were collected over the course of the PST-LSC. The data were analyzed thematically using a priori codes and subcodes related to the MKT framework in order to identify how the PSTs MKT developed throughout the PST-LSC. The data suggests the PSTs MKT deepened as a result of participating in the PST-LSC. More specifically, the PST-LSC provided PSTs with opportunities to develop all six domains of MKT: common content knowledge (CCK), specialized content knowledge (SCK), knowledge at the mathematical horizon, knowledge of content and students (KCS), knowledge of content and teaching (KCT), and knowledge of curriculum. The results of the study also indicate that the sharing of mathematical strategies, cross grade-level discussions, readings, collaboration, curricular resources, observation, and reteaching involved in the PST-LSC were catalysts for the gains in MKT. This research has implications for teacher educators who teach mathematics methods courses and who supervise PSTs in field experiences.

Author: Yeping Li
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030689565
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The need to improve the mathematical proficiency of elementary teachers is well recognized, and it has long been of interest to educators and researchers in the U.S. and many other countries. But the specific proficiencies that elementary teachers need and the process of developing and improving them remain only partially conceptualized and not well validated empirically. To improve this situation, national workshops were organized at Texas A&M University to generate focused discussions about this important topic, with participation of mathematicians, mathematics educators and teachers. Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction is a collection of articles that grew out of those exciting cross-disciplinary exchanges. Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction is organized to probe the specifics of mathematical proficiency that are important to elementary teachers during two separate but inter-connected professional stages: as pre-service teachers in a preparation program, and as in-service teachers teaching mathematics in elementary classrooms. From this rich and inspiring collection, readers may better understand, and possibly rethink, their own practices and research in empowering elementary teachers mathematically and pedagogically, as educators or researchers.

Author: Lauren Lee Goggins
Publisher: ProQuest
ISBN: 9780549389224
Category : Elementary school teachers
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
A challenge that teacher educators face is how to determine if teacher preparation programs provide preservice teachers with opportunities to develop the mathematical knowledge that teachers use in their practice. This qualitative, interpretive study examines the mathematical knowledge for teaching that four preservice teachers exhibited when they engaged in a set of three instructional tasks that included children's mathematical thinking and were designed to replicate the work of teaching mathematics. Each task largely elicits a different kind of mathematical knowledge for teaching from preservice teachers. In addition, the formats of the children's mathematical thinking examples influence the mathematical knowledge for teaching that is elicited from preservice teachers by the complete set of instructional tasks. This study informs teacher educators how instruction in teacher preparation programs and professional development programs can be developed to measure mathematical knowledge for teaching. And, it advances the current understanding of the mathematical knowledge that is needed in the work of teaching mathematics.

Author: Lynn C. Hart
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681235749
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
This book is an edited volume addressing specific issues of significance for individuals involved with the undergraduate mathematics content preparation of prospective elementary teachers (PSTs). Teaching mathematics content courses to this group of students presents unique challenges. While some PSTs enter their teacher preparation with weak mathematical skills and knowledge, many also hold negative attitudes, anxiety, and misguided beliefs about mathematics. This book is designed to support instructors who teach these students in mathematics content for elementary teachers courses. Elementary teachers need a richly developed understanding of the mathematics they are teaching in order to teach it effectively. Providing them with the needed preparation is difficult, but can be eased with a solid understanding of the mathematical concerns and limitations PSTs bring to the learning of mathematics and a familiarity with the standards and curricula topics PSTs will be expected to teach. Chapter One makes the argument that elementary mathematics is not trivial. This is followed by an analysis of four central issues related to the mathematical preparation of elementary teachers, specifically: (1) selecting/creating/modifying and implementing mathematical tasks (2) noticing/understanding children’s ways of thinking as a foundation for learning mathematics, (3) developing mathematical habits of mind in PSTs, and (4) understanding the role affect plays in the mathematical learning of PSTs. The final chapter presents three international examples of programs that currently consider these factors in the implementation of their courses.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309072522
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
There are many questions about the mathematical preparation teachers need. Recent recommendations from a variety of sources state that reforming teacher preparation in postsecondary institutions is central in providing quality mathematics education to all students. The Mathematics Teacher Preparation Content Workshop examined this problem by considering two central questions: What is the mathematical knowledge teachers need to know in order to teach well? How can teachers develop the mathematical knowledge they need to teach well? The Workshop activities focused on using actual acts of teaching such as examining student work, designing tasks, or posing questions, as a medium for teacher learning. The Workshop proceedings, Knowing and Learning Mathematics for Teaching, is a collection of the papers presented, the activities, and plenary sessions that took place.

Author: Nadine Bezuk
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781648020001
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
AMTE, in the Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics, puts forward a national vision of initial preparation for all Pre-K-12 teachers who teach mathematics. SPTM pertains not only to middle and high school mathematics teachers who may teach mathematics exclusively but also to elementary school teachers teaching all disciplines, special education teachers, teachers of emergent multilingual students, and all other teaching professionals and administrators who have responsibility for students' mathematical learning. SPTM has broad implications for teacher preparation programs, in which stakeholders include faculty and administrators in both education and mathematics at the university level; teachers, principals, and district leaders in the schools with which preparation programs partner; and the communities in which preparation programs and their school partners are situated. SPTM is intended as a national guide that articulates a vision for mathematics teacher preparation and supports the continuous improvement of teacher preparation programs. Such continuous improvement includes changes to preparation program courses and structures, partnerships involving schools and universities and their leaders, the ongoing accreditation of such programs regionally and nationally, and the shaping of state and national mathematics teacher preparation policy. SPTM is also designed to inform accreditation processes for mathematics teacher preparation programs, to influence policies related to preparation of teachers of mathematics, and to promote national dialogue around preparing teachers of mathematics. The vision articulated in SPTM is aspirational in that it describes a set of high expectations for developing a well-prepared beginning mathematics teacher who can support meaningful student learning. The vision is research-based and establishes a set of goals for the continued development and refinement of a mathematics teacher preparation program and a research agenda for the study of the effects of such a program. SPTM contains detailed depictions of what a well-prepared beginning teacher knows and is able to do related to content, pedagogy, and disposition, and what a strong preparation program entails with respect to learning experiences, assessments, and partnerships. Stakeholders in mathematics teacher preparation will find messages related to their roles. Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics includes standards and indicators for teacher candidates and for the design of teacher preparation programs. SPTM outlines assessment practices related to overall quality, program effectiveness, and candidate performance. SPTM describes specific focal practices by grade band and provides guidance to stakeholders regarding processes for productive change.

Author: Tonya Gau Bartell
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030210170
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
This book builds on the Teachers Empowered to Advance Change in Mathematics (TEACH Math) project, which was an initiative that sought to develop a new generation of preK-8 mathematics teachers to connect mathematics, children’s mathematical thinking, and community and family knowledge in mathematics instruction – or what we have come to call children’s multiple mathematical knowledge bases in mathematics instruction, with an explicit focus on equity. Much of the work involved in the TEACH Math project included the development of three instructional modules for preK-8 mathematics methods courses to support the project’s goals. These activities were used and refined over eight semesters, and in Fall 2014 shared at a dissemination conference with other mathematics teacher educators from a variety of universities across the United States. Chapter contributions represent diverse program and geographical contexts and teach prospective and practicing teachers from a variety of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, in particular providing accounts of supports, challenges, and tensions in implementing equity-based mathematics teacher education. The chapters supply rich evidence and illustrative examples of how other mathematics teacher educators and professional developers might make the modules work for their unique practices, courses, workshops, and prospective teachers/teachers. It promises to be an important resource for offering guidance and examples to those working with prospective teachers of mathematics who want to create positive, culturally responsive, and equity-based mathematics experiences for our nation’s youth.

Author: Ed Wheeler
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617350273
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
(Originally Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) There is a national consensus that teachers who teach middle-grades and elementary mathematics need deeper and broader exposure to mathematics in both their undergraduate and in their graduate studies. The Mathematics Education of Teachers, published by The Conference Board on the Mathematical Sciences, recommends 21 semester hours of mathematics for prospective teachers of middle-grades mathematics. In several states pre-service teachers preparing to teach middle-grades mathematics and pre-service teachers preparing to teach elementary school must complete 6- 9 semester hours of mathematics content at the junior-senior level. Graduate schools across the nation have developed special programs for educators who specialize in teaching mathematics to elementary school children and to middle grades students. However, there is a paucity of text materials to support those efforts at junior-senior level and graduate level courses. Faculty members must choose to teach yet another course out of one of the “Mathematics for Teachers” texts that have formed the basis of the curriculum for the last two decades. These texts tend to treat a very limited set of topics on a somewhat superficial level. Alternatively, faculty members can use mathematics textbooks written primarily for students majoring in mathematics or the sciences. Neither the topic choice nor the pedagogical style of these texts is optimal for pre-service and in-service teachers of middle grades and elementary mathematics. Discrete Mathematics for Teachers is a text designed to fill this void. The topic is right. Discrete mathematics provides a rich and varied source of problems for exploration and communication, expands knowledge of mathematics in directions related to elementary and middle school curricula, and is easily presented using our best understanding of the ways that mathematics is learned and taught. The presentation is right. In the spirit of NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, topics are presented with careful attention to the best traditions of problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connections with other disciplines and other areas of mathematics, and varied modes of representation.