Pre-service teachers’ experiences and the influences on their intentions for teaching primary school mathematics

Abstract

In this article results from an examination of beliefs about teaching and learning primary mathematics are reported. Commencing and graduating pre-service teachers completed written surveys and interviews. Common to many preservice teachers were memories of mathematics lessons with teacher demonstrations, completing set exercises, using mathematical equipment, and playing competitive number-based games. Various factors influenced their beliefs including: having theory linked to practical examples, reflecting on more recent experience of teaching and learning contexts, and listening to experiences shared by friends and family members who teach.

Turkish Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics Teaching.

“…Since they would observe an actual classroom situation, it may be beneficial for them to reflect on their beliefs. Moreover, Scott (2005) stated the necessity of matching the instruction by lecturers in the university with the advice about instructional methods they give. Therefore, if teachers of education want student teachers to develop constructivist beliefs about mathematics teaching, their class instruction should reflect constructivism.…”

“…The influence of students' prior experiences and teacher education programs have been covered in the literature (Brown & Borko, 1992;Nespor, 1987;Calderhead & Robson, 1991;Raymond, 1997;Stuart & Thurlow, 2005;Scott, 2005;Seaman, Szydlik, Szydlik, & Beam, 2005;Wilkins & Brand, 2004). Stuart and Thurlow (2005) wrote of the influence of mathematics methods classes in the university on the development of pre-service teachers' beliefs.…”

“…Stuart and Thurlow (2005) wrote of the influence of mathematics methods classes in the university on the development of pre-service teachers' beliefs. Scott (2005) mentioned the influence of personal experiences and observations in the university on belief formation. Seaman, Szydlik, Szydlik, and Beam (2005) pointed out the shift of pre-service teachers' beliefs about teaching towards constructivist views within the teacher education program.…”

A study of the quality of interaction among participants in online animation-based conversations about mathematics teaching

“…Mansvelder-Longayroux, Beijaard, and Verloop (2007) distinguished two main types of reflection: action-oriented reflection and meaning-oriented reflection. Action-oriented reflection refers to the consideration of alternative teaching actions to an action observed in a given classroom event (Nespor, 1987;Scott, 2005). Author et al (2006) considered actionoriented reflection under the name of alternativity, defining the latter as a capacity that could help teachers enrich the stock of actions that they can use to deal with a variety of situational demands in classroom interaction (i.e., consider a variety of possible actions before making a decision in a given situation).…”

“…In earlier studies Author et al, 2015) we defined and operationalized a key indicator and two outcome variables related to the quality of online teacher conversations about instructional practice, and examined the correlations between those variables. Author et al (2006) identified alternativity (i.e., the consideration of alternative teaching actions) and reflection (i.e., the discussion of reasons and justifications of teaching actions) as two desirable characteristics of conversations among practitioners that could happen upon discussion of a representation of practice (Nespor, 1987;Schön, 1983;Scott, 2005). Accordingly, we considered that postings in a forum could display alternativity (i.e., a posting could include the proposal of alternative teaching actions to those seen in a representation of teaching) and reflection (i.e., a posting could contain reflection on actions seen in a representation of teaching or actions proposed by participants), and we considered those as two outcome variables of interest when looking at the quality of postings in a teacher education forum.…”