Forum on teacher preparation: A mathematics laboratory for prospective teachers

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-78
Author(s):  
David M. Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematical Activity ◽  
Schools Of Education ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Open Problems ◽  
School Officials ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
And Mathematics

The Report of the Cambridge Conference on the Correlation of Science and Mathematics in the Schools recommends that schools of education plan programs of “apprentice teaching in the schools, including work with materials of the sort being developed in new curriculum projects.”1 A group of mathematics educators in England has urged the use of courses emphasizing problem solving: “It is the exploration of these more open problems which we feel to be the essential characteristic of real mathematical activity.”2 A loud chorus of opinion suggests that courses in methodology should be jointly planned and executed by both mathematicians and educators and that they should involve practical work with children. When the opportunity to design an experimental elementary mathematics methods course was offered the writer, he decided to emphasize the mathematics laboratory approach which gives an important role to problem solving. Conferences with members of the mathematics and education departments, as well as with school officials, paved the way for the experiment; the sympathetic support of the chairman of the division of education at the college made it possible financially.

Simulating Problem Solving and Classroom Settings

1978 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
Werner Liedtke ◽  
James Vance
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
Instructional Settings ◽  
The University

The simulation of various classroom settings in which problem-solving activities occur is one aspect of the mathematics methods course for elementary teachers at the University of Victoria. By participating in these sessions, the students are made aware of some of the possible instructional settings that they might use as teachers and the important role that problem solving plays in the curriculum. Some of these settings and problems are described here and some results of the students' involvement in the program are illustrated.

Critical Thinking and Mathematics Teaching and Learning

2019 ◽  
pp. 234-253
Author(s):  
Kelli Thomas ◽  
Douglas Huffman ◽  
Mari Caballero
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Teaching Behaviors ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Mathematics Classrooms ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Teaching And Learning ◽  
And Mathematics

The purpose of this chapter was to investigate pre-service teachers' noticing of children's critical thinking and views towards eliciting and using students' critical thinking in mathematics teaching. A mixed method study was used to provide a range of perspectives on pre-service teachers' views towards mathematics. The results indicated that the pre-service teachers initially held beliefs that mathematics teaching and learning consist of transferring information and students absorbing and memorizing information. The pre-service teachers based their instructional responses on experiences they had as students in elementary mathematics classrooms. The pre-service teachers described what they had observed about teaching mathematics as the ideal without regard for how the teaching behaviors they observed might influence children's critical thinking about mathematics. After completing a mathematics methods course, the pre-service teachers held beliefs more consistent with a reform-oriented classroom and demonstrated growth in their ability to notice children's mathematics thinking.

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.

Research, Reflection, and Practice: Writing for an Audience in a Mathematics Methods Course

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 480-486
Author(s):  
Alfinio Flores ◽  
Carmina M. Brittain
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Prospective Elementary Teachers ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
First Time ◽  
Natural Way

During their first mathematics methods course, many prospective elementary teachers confront their previous conceptions about mathematics and its teaching for the first time. This juncture makes the course important in their evolution as teachers of mathematics. Prospective teachers in a mathematics methods course must develop the ability to reflect on their actions, beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes. Writing in a mathematics methods course fosters reflection in a natural way; it serves as a tool for documentation, analysis, and discussion to help prospective teachers internalize what they learn and reach new levels of comprehension. At the same time, what teachers in training write gives teacher educators a window into their reflection and growth process.

scholarly journals Creative Character Education in Mathematics for Prospective Teachers

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1730
Author(s):  
Dong-Joong Kim ◽  
Sung-Chul Bae ◽  
Sang-Ho Choi ◽  
Hee-Jeong Kim ◽  
Woong Lim
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Character Education ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Mathematics Teacher Education ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
Teachers Perspectives

This study examines preservice teachers’ perspectives of creativity and character education in mathematics through a university-based teacher education program. We developed a curricular unit on creative character education in a mathematics methods course and investigated participants’ (n = 56) emerging perspectives of teaching creativity and character by the integration of content and process in mathematics. Data were collected through pre- and post-questionnaires and transcribed course discussion and presentation sessions. A quantitative analysis of the questionnaires through a t-test confirmed key changes in participants’ perspectives, while the qualitative context of data illustrates the participants’ emergent views on creative character education in mathematics. Overall, findings suggest that a mathematics teacher education curriculum integrating mathematical creativity and character education has the potential to prepare future educators to implement pedagogy that bridges between process and content in school mathematics for the next generation of learners.

A Diary of Two Problem Solvers

1991 ◽  
Vol 84 (9) ◽  
pp. 748-753
Author(s):  
Thomas O'Shea
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Elementary School Teachers ◽  
Large Class ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Mathematics Educators ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
Problem Solvers

Recently, I taught a mathematics methods course for thirty-six preservice elementary school teachers. Taking heed of calls from mathematics educators to ensure that teachers have some understanding of the process of problem solving (e.g., Thompson [1985, 292]), I gave a lot of thought to what to do with such a large class. I wanted to go beyond just presenting the ideas of P6lya and others. I wanted the students to become actively involved and to feel what it means to solve problems.

Building Synergy: Cognitively Guided Instruction and Implementation of a Simulated edTPA Elementary Mathematics Task During an Undergraduate Methods Course

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany G. Jacobs ◽  
Marvin E. Smith ◽  
Susan Swars Auslander ◽  
Stephanie Z. Smith ◽  
Kayla D. Myers
Keyword(s):  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Elementary Mathematics ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Cognitively Guided Instruction ◽  
Mathematics Methods ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Mathematics Methods Course ◽  
Guided Instruction

Teacher preparation programs face increasing demands to demonstrate the competencies of prospective teachers in their programs, while maintaining a focus on developing high-leverage instructional practices in their methods coursework. This study used a mixed methods approach to examine how the implementation of a simulated edTPA elementary mathematics task influenced prospective teachers' experiences in an elementary mathematics methods course. The course curriculum featured cognitively guided instruction (CGI) as the exemplar for understanding and implementing problembased, cognitively oriented pedagogy. Our findings indicate that elements of both CGI and the simulated edTPA mathematics task worked synergistically to enhance opportunities for CGI-type lesson enactment, support productive changes in beliefs, and contribute to the prospective elementary teachers' (PTs) preparation.

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