Effects of Mathematics Methods Courses on the Mathematical Attitudes and Content Knowledge of Preservice Teachers

1997 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Mathematics Methods Courses

scholarly journals The impact of STEAM integration on preservice teachers' disposition and knowledge

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42
Author(s):  
Shuhua An
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inquiry Process ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mathematics Methods Courses

PurposeThis study intended to provide such an opportunity to preservice teachers with a project-based learning (PBL) approach and an inquiry-based pedagogy to engage them in learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills of integration with adding an art component to STEM as science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) for K-8 children, and developing their own STEAM tasks. The purpose of this project was to explore how STEAM integration in mathematics methods courses influenced K-8 preservice teachers' disposition and knowledge of STEAM integration.Design/methodology/approachThis project used a mixed-research design in data collection and analysis to examine the effects of using the STEAM integration on preservice teachers' knowledge and disposition. The preservice teachers in two EDEL 462 classes in Spring 2019 participated in STEAM learning and development in the inquiry process of four steps of STEAM integration. Data collection includes the pre- and postquestionnaires on teachers' knowledge and disposition.FindingsThe results in this study show that the STEAM integration in the mathematics methods courses engaged preservice teachers in four steps of the inquiry process of connection, collaboration, communication and evaluation for STEAM integration using PBL approach. The preservice teachers not only enhanced their disposition in attitude and confidence but also enhanced their knowledge of STEAM integration.Research limitations/implicationsThe following conclusions can be drawn from the present study that integrating STEAM components in mathematics methods fosters preservice teachers' creativity, connection, communication, application and teamwork skills, and importantly, it enhances K-8 preservice teachers' productive dispositions and knowledge in STEAM integration.Practical implicationsThe results of this study indicate that using math methods courses to engage preservice teachers in learning STEAM integration and designing authentic STEAM tasks in four steps enhanced preservice teachers' attitude and confidence that significantly related to their knowledge of STEAM integration.Originality/valueThese findings have significant implications for the understanding of how to prepare future teachers in STEAM integration in higher education.

scholarly journals Preservice Teachers’ Learning to Respond on the Basis of Children’s Mathematical Understanding

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Mary Gichobi ◽  
Alejandro Andreotti
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Mathematical Understanding ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Professional Noticing ◽  
Component Skill ◽  
Children's Strategies ◽  
Mathematics Methods Courses

This study examined the extent to which preservice teachers (PSTs) develop their capacity to attend to children’s strategies and interpret and respond on the basis of children’s mathematical understanding in the context of two well-designed assignments: Inquiry into Student Thinking assignment and tutoring assignment. The two assignments were assigned after 6 and 10 weeks of instruction, respectively. The analysis revealed that PSTs attended to children’s strategies and interpreted children’s mathematical understanding but struggled with the component skill of responding to children’s mathematical understanding in the two assignments. Although the nature of tasks selected differed across the two assignments, generally PSTs focused on tasks that would develop children’s mathematical understanding. The findings have theoretical implications for a hypothesized trajectory of professional noticing of children’s mathematical understanding and the design of mathematics methods courses.

Looking Silly to Make Sense: A Number Patterning Activity

2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 434-436
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Castellan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Eighth Graders ◽  
High School Mathematics ◽  
Cocktail Party ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Original Activity ◽  
Conference Presentations ◽  
Mathematics Methods Courses

What do you do with a class of eighth graders and fifteen minutes of free time? I remember asking myself that very question a number of years ago when I was a junior high school mathematics teacher with an eighth-grade homeroom. In those few moments, I came up with an activity that has served me well over many years. Since that time, I have expanded and modified the original activity as I adapted it to second and third grades, conference presentations, PTA meetings, faculty inservice workshops, undergraduate and graduate mathematics methods courses, and the occasional cocktail party.

Supporting Teacher Learning: Making the Complexities of Teaching Visible for Prospective Teachers

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-96
Author(s):  
Kathryn B. Chval
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Students ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Field Experience ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Elementary Math ◽  
Mathematics Methods Courses

Most of the prospective teachers who enter my methods courses assume that teaching mathematics to elementary students will be easy. For example, Jenny wrote, “I thought, ‘I can teach math. How can it be so hard? It's elementary math!’ But I have been proven wrong.” Based on comments such as Jenny's, I realized the importance of giving prospective teachers opportunities to understand that effectively teaching mathematics to elementary students is complex and challenging. I recognized that field experience in my mathematics methods courses had to make the complexities of teaching more visible for prospective teachers. In other words, prospective teachers must study teaching practices. Such study would not only require viewing, analyzing, and discussing practices but also include the opportunity for prospective teachers to practice and analyze their own teaching.

Research, Reflection, Practice: Writing to Reflect in a Mathematics Methods Course

2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-118
Author(s):  
Alfinio Flores ◽  
Carmina Brittain
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Writing To Learn ◽  
Preservice Elementary Teachers ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Methods Courses ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
Principles And Standards

For more than a decade, several authors have highlighted the benefits to students of writing to learn mathematics. Writing is an important component of communication in the classroom. As Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 2000) notes, “Writing in mathematics can also help students consolidate their thinking because it requires them to reflect on their work and clarify their thoughts about the ideas developed in the lesson” (p. 61). Teachers probably will not use this tool, however, unless they have had the experience themselves of writing in relation to mathematics. This article presents a brief review of the benefits of students writing to learn mathematics. In the second part of the article, we invite the reader to consider another possible use of writing: as a tool to help preservice teachers reflect on their own growth as they learn to teach mathematics. We discuss some of the benefits that writing has for prospective teachers and present examples of preservice elementary teachers' writing that were collected in several one-semester undergraduate mathematics methods courses that the first author taught. The second author participated as a student in one of the courses. In a second article to be published in this journal, we will focus on the process of writing and writing for an audience.

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