Mathematics methods texts are important resources for supporting preservice teachers' learning. Methods instructors routinely assign readings from texts. Yet, anecdotally and also based on reading compliance literature, many students report that they do not read assigned readings. Within this paper we briefly describe the findings from a survey of 132 mathematics methods instructors about their customary use of texts and focus more closely on interviews of 16 preservice and first-year teachers about the reading strategies they used while reading methods texts. Research questions addressed the following: What strategies do preservice teachers use to make meaning of mathematics methods texts? What recommendations do preservice teachers suggest for instructors about the usage of texts? Findings suggest that most preservice and first-year teachers, at first, hesitated, not seeming to understand the first question and then struggled to explain their strategies. According to preservice and first-year teachers, instructors need to: balance reading with other ways to interact with the texts; discuss text readings in class; give them a purpose for reading; and, hold them accountable for the readings. Perhaps, both general content area literacy strategies and disciplinary literacy strategies need more emphasis in methods coursework. Mathematics methods texts are important resources for supporting preservice teachers' learning. Methods instructors routinely assign readings from texts. Yet, anecdotally and also based on reading compliance literature, many students report that they do not read assigned readings. Within this paper we briefly describe the findings from a survey of 132 mathematics methods instructors about their customary use of texts and focus more closely on interviews of 16 preservice and first-year teachers about the reading strategies they used while reading methods texts. Research questions addressed the following: What strategies do preservice teachers use to make meaning of mathematics methods texts? What recommendations do preservice teachers suggest for instructors about the usage of texts? Findings suggest that most preservice and first-year teachers, at first, hesitated, not seeming to understand the first question and then struggled to explain their strategies. According to preservice and first-year teachers, instructors need to: balance reading with other ways to interact with the texts; discuss text readings in class; give them a purpose for reading; and, hold them accountable for the readings. Perhaps, both general content area literacy strategies and disciplinary literacy strategies need more emphasis in methods coursework. How Preservice Teachers Make Meaning of Mathematics Methods Texts

No abstract

Understanding large number data is essential for making sense of real‐world problems. For the research reported here, our intent was to find connections between quantitative cognitive science studies and our prior qualitative study about participants' understanding of the relative size of large numbers. While all 23 cognitive science research studies that we reviewed focused only on participants' placements of large numbers on number lines, our study focused on preservice teachers' (PSTs; n = 128) strategies – placements and explanations for their placements – of one billion on a number line bounded by zero and one trillion. Our intent was to answer the following question: What are the connections between three plausible placements substantiated by cognitive scientists – linear; log‐linear; and segmented linear – of large numbers on number line tasks and the nine strategies identified in our qualitative study? We highlight exemplars from the nine PSTs' strategies to show connections between the three plausible placements. In doing so, we illustrate that asking participants to place large numbers on number lines only gives a partial picture of their understanding. Their explanations expand the placements by revealing inconsistencies among the placements and explanations. Implications for future research are also discussed.