scholarly journals Prospective Primary School Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Teaching Mathematics

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mesut Tabuk

The aim of the study is to determine prospective primary school teachers’ attitudes towards teaching mathematics. The study is designed according to model of survey in the descriptive type. A total of 236 prospective primary school teachers were examined in order to investigate the effect of gender and program differences on their attitudes towards teaching mathematics. In the study, the questionnaire “Teaching Mathematics” was used to collect the data from prospective teachers. The results revealed that the prospective teachers have positive attitude towards teaching mathematics. It was found also that gender and grade level are not significant factor on attitude scores. Finally, various suggestions were presented for future studies in accordance with the findings obtained.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-318
Author(s):  
Floriano Viseu ◽  
Paula Mendes Martins ◽  
Laurinda Leite

The current teaching of mathematics is guided by recommendations that suggest the implementation of various activities in order to raise the understanding of mathematical knowledge. This diversity is related to the characteristics of the tasks proposed in the learning contexts. Among all tasks, the modelling ones call for the application of activities through different representations. So, it is important that teacher training courses promote experiences involving prospective teachers with this type of task. Based on this assumption, we intend to identify the activities that prospective primary school teachers perform in solving modelling tasks, the difficulties experienced in these tasks and the value of the models they determine. From the analysis of the resolutions of two tasks, we find that the prospective teachers translate the information of the data available in tables through graphs and analytical expressions. Some discuss models that determine which best fits the data. In the activities carried out, difficulties arise in determining the proportionality constant that best translates the problem situation, discussing the reasonableness of the values generated by the model, and sketching the graph of the model that best fits the experimental data. As for the usefulness of the model they determine, few prospective teachers are predicting outcomes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aikaterini Gari ◽  
Kostas Mylonas ◽  
Sarka Portešová

The provision of gifted students with learning difficulties (GSLD) composes a complicated educational problem that deserves special care. This study explores teachers’ attitudes towards the GSLD in two samples of primary school teachers: 225 Greek teachers and 158 teachers in the Czech Republic, 40–59 years of age and with 14–28 years of teaching experience. A questionnaire of 26 questions, created for the purpose of this study, was administered referring to teachers’ attitudes towards opinions and information regarding the GSLD characteristics, along with three open-ended questions on the most preferable types of the GSLD educational provision. Through multidimensional scaling solutions in their trigonometric transformation (MDS-T) one large common and one minor separate system of items emerged for the two samples, which were meaningful in the direction of understanding teachers’ difficulties in accepting the contradictory core of the GSLD characteristics and educational needs. These systems of attitudes are discussed in respect to their relative importance to Czech and Greek teachers and the respective educational settings.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1229-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise Westaway ◽  
Gabriele Kaiser ◽  
Mellony Graven

Abstract Research that focuses on teacher identity is gaining traction as researchers argue that teachers mediate more than mathematical knowledge and skills in the classroom. This research tends to be underpinned by a social constructionist orientation, which foregrounds epistemology over ontology. This orientation is limiting for research that wishes to understand the base conditions that enable or constrain the expression (i.e. both communication and action) of teacher identity in teaching primary mathematics. The paper suggests that this requires research that explores the interaction between structure, culture and agency in the expression of teacher identity in teaching mathematics in primary school. The study argues that a social realist orientation is of value to research on teacher identity. From this perspective, teacher identity is defined as the manner in which teachers express their roles as teachers. As the paper is primarily theoretical, the exemplification is limited to two primary school teachers’ expression of only one role namely effective communicator of mathematics. It demonstrates what social realism enables, that is, not illuminated in research underpinned by a social constructionist orientation. The argument made in this paper elucidates how social realism supports a deep analysis of the structural and agential conditions that enable and constrain teacher identities.


1978 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary L. Schofield ◽  
K. B. Start

Concern regarding the prevalence in primary school teachers of poor attitudes towards and low achievement in mathematics has received some empirical support. But the common assumptions (i) that attitudes towards, and achievement in, mathematics are substantially related, and (ii) that teachers' attitudes and achievement in mathematics affect pupils' attitudes and achievement, await empirical verification. While studies relating teachers' attitudes toward pupils' attitudes and achievements are sparse, those relating attitude and achievement within teachers or within pupils have typically shown a low positive relationship not always reaching statistical significance. Some writers use this as evidence to discount the importance of attitudes in achievement, but the present paper contends that a partial explanation for the lack of the expected result may arise from the measurement assumption that attitude to mathematics is a unidimensional phenomenon. Two multidimensional attitude instruments were constructed and administered to 317 final year prospective primary school teachers. Although the two instruments employed widely differing techniques for tapping attitudes to mathematics and mathematics teaching, dimensions from both instruments showed substantial correlations with mathematics achievement. The findings gave support for the contention that attitude to mathematics is not a unidimensional phenomenon. The consistency of findings within and between both attitude instruments suggests a good validation of each. The contention that teachers' attitudes (and achievement) affect pupil attitudes and achievement is yet to be tested.


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