ERIC Number: ED528476
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 145
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: ISBN-978-1-1094-9697-0
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk: Pre-Service Teacher Conceptions about Their Own Mathematics Teaching
Conroy, Judith A.
ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, University of California, Irvine and University of California, Los Angeles
An important goal of pre-service teacher education is to prepare future mathematics teachers to design and enact instruction to develop students' procedural fluency, conceptual understanding, and mathematical reasoning. However, future teachers lack deep and flexible knowledge, as well as beliefs, skills, and practices to teach in these ways (NRC, 2001; Philipp, 2008). In this study, I use the Performance Assessment of California Teachers (PACT) to identify prospective teachers' conceptions of teaching mathematics for understanding. Drawing on case study methods, I examine ten pre-service teachers' PACT materials, including both their written documents and video of teaching, to understand how they plan and teach in ways envisioned by reform, with a particular focus in how they engage students in cognitively demanding tasks and the ways in which they promote student mathematical discourse. Identifying the similarities and differences in pre-service teachers' conceptions provides a window into the particulars of their understanding of mathematics teaching and learning. Data analysis identified similarities and differences among the candidates in their conceptions of teaching. While the ten candidates varied in their understanding of cognitively demanding tasks and student discourse in a mathematics lesson, they all appear to have developed a similar discourse for talking about mathematics teaching and learning and similar beliefs about connecting mathematics to the real world. Moreover, the more accomplished pre-service teachers appear to plan and reflect at a higher level than they enact instruction. These findings have implications for the design of teacher education programs that promote learning to teach mathematics for understanding. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Preservice Teacher Education, Preservice Teachers, Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Instructional Design, Instructional Development, Teaching Experience, Academic Discourse, Data Analysis
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A