Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Voices Describe How Their Teacher Motivated Them to do Mathematics

Abstract

In this study, data in the form of (preservice teacher) student voices taken from mathematical autobiographies, written at the beginning of the semester, and end-ofsemester reflections, were analyzed in order to examine why preservice elementary school teachers were highly motivated in a social constructivist mathematics course in which the teacher emphasized mastery goals. The findings suggest that students entered the course with a wide variety of feelings about mathematics and their own mathematical ability. At the end of the semester, students wrote about aspects of the course that "led to their growth as a mathematical thinker and as a mathematics teacher. . ." Student responses were coded within themes that emerged from the data: Struggle; Construction of meaning [mathematical language; mathematical understanding]; Grouping [working in groups]; Change [self-efficacy; math self-concept]; and the Teacher's Role. These themes are described using student voices and within a motivation goal theory framework. The role of struggle, in relation to motivation, is discussed.

Preparing Graduate Students to Teach Math: Engaging with Activities and Viewing Teaching Models

“…However, comments throughout indicated their new understanding of allowing open exploration and providing opportunities for students to make meaning out of math concepts. Harkness, D'Ambrosio, and Morrone (2007) found providing preservice teachers with the opportunity to engage in this constructivist type of learning can change how they think about and view math and learning math, refocusing on the "why" of math rather than math "performance" (p. 249). This type of teaching aligns with current ideas about best instructional practices, as well as the expectations of the Common Core State Standards, and may better prepare teachers for future classroom work.…”

Social constructivism and the Believing Game: a mathematics teacher’s practice and its implications

“…As reported in Harkness et al (2007), the preservice teachers' mathematical autobiographies shed light on their mathematical self-concepts. At the beginning of the semester the preservice teachers were asked to describe their school experiences with mathematics and the findings indicated that they entered Problem Solving with a wide variety of feelings about mathematics and their own mathematical skills.…”

“…The study reported here is the third in a series of research articles (Harkness, D'Ambrosio, & Morrone 2007;Morrone, Harkness, D'Ambrosio, & Caulfield 2004) about the teaching practices of the same university professor, Sheila, and the mathematics course, Problem Solving, she taught for preservice elementary teachers. The preservice teachers reported that they were motivated and that Sheila made learning goals salient (Harkness et al 2007;Morrone et al 2004).…”

“…The preservice teachers reported that they were motivated and that Sheila made learning goals salient (Harkness et al 2007;Morrone et al 2004). When students have learning goals they focus primarily on mastering tasks and learning for learning's sake (Ames 1992;Dweck & Leggett 1988;Dweck 1986); because students with learning goals see a direct relationship between effort and learning, they prefer moderately challenging tasks and are willing to put forth more effort to complete them.…”

“…I describe one unique aspect of Sheila's practice -attempting to believe (Elbow 1986(Elbow , 2006. Sheila's attempting to believe ultimately impacted the preservice teachers' motivation, which was reported in Morrone et al (2004) and Harkness et al (2007), the classroom mathematical conversations which took place in Problem Solving, and her own mathematical thinking. Although I do not link the frameworks -motivation goal theory, social constructivism, and believing -within this paper (except briefly in Section 4), it makes sense that a teacher, who bases her practice on a social constructivist theory of teaching and learning and attempts to believe, implicitly emphasizes learning goals rather than performance goals (a focus on grades and comparisons relative to other students' performance).…”