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

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.

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

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.

A Review of Cases for Mathematics Teacher Educators: Facilitating Conversations About Inequities in Mathematics Classrooms

Cases for Mathematics Teacher Educators: Facilitating Conversations About Inequities in Mathematics Classrooms (hereafter referred to as Cases), edited by Dorothy Y. White, Sandra Crespo, and Marta Civil (2016), is a robust anthology about inequities in mathematics classrooms in three spaces: mathematics methods courses, mathematics content courses, and graduate and professional development courses. This pedagogical contribution utilizes and deconstructs dilemmas occurring in mathematics teacher educators' (MTEs) classrooms. The text consists of 19 cases and 57 corresponding commentaries (three per case) that serve as critical analysis for discussion. The authors present their cases to provide the reader with their respective dilemmas, identities as teacher educators, and strategies for engaging in equity work. This organizational structure is significant methodologically because it promotes opportunities for critique and conversation about the authors' biases and assumptions. However, there are missed opportunities in many of the cases to acknowledge microaggressions and systematic oppression in higher education and in U.S. society in general (Chang, 2016).

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

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.