In this article we explore the mechanisms through which one group of preservice teachers engage in "Collective Property Noticing"--a phenomenon in which group members integrate individual contributions such that the group, as a unit, notices mathematical properties of their collective image. Drawing on improvisational theory to help to…

This article presents a study done in an elementary mathematics methods course that focused on the transition of novice teachers' epistemological stances: former elementary student, university student, and teacher stances. In order to help them develop the teacher stance, we designed a three-phase activity, where two phases took place inside…

There is a chronic international shortage of mathematics and science teachers, particularly physicists. The study reported here examines why physicists become teachers and why they stay in teaching. Physicists from seven preservice teacher training cohorts from three English universities were invited to answer an online survey with follow-up…

In this article, we obtain a genetic decomposition of students' progress in developing an understanding of the decimal 0.9 and its relation to 1. The genetic decomposition appears to be valid for a high percentage of the study participants and suggests the possibility of a new stage in APOS Theory that would be the first substantial change in…

Following Star (2005, 2007), we continue to problematize the entangling of type and quality in the use of conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge. Although those whose work is guided by types of knowledge and those whose work is guided by qualities of knowledge seem to be referring to the same phenomena, actually they are not. This lack of…

This quantitative study (n = 247) explores whether preservice science teachers express science-specific identities that reflect multiple areas of their beliefs (e.g., purpose for science teaching, inclusion of science-technology-society-environment issues into science teaching, and nature of science) as well as other individual characteristics…

Teachers' feelings of uncertainty are an overlooked, though crucial, condition necessary for the promotion of educational change. This article investigates the feelings of uncertainty that preservice teachers have toward the conduct of science as inquiry and the extent to which methods courses can confront and embrace those uncertainties. Our work…

As part of a 5-year project that examined teachers' knowledge and beliefs about mathematics and teaching mathematics, interviews were conducted with preservice elementary teachers during their certification year. The transcripts of five of these sets of pretest/posttest interviews were chosen as illustrative of the significant challenges that…

This article proposes strategies and practices that create rich discursive spaces for learning science in French immersion contexts. These strategies and practices are drawn from a variety of scholarly sources; here we adapt them to reading in the French immersion science classroom. The strategies and practices are designed for use in a…

The purpose of this article is to address the lack of research on teachers' knowledge of probability. As has been the case in prior research, we asked prospective mathematics teachers to determine which of the presented sequences of coin flips was least likely to occur. However, instead of using the traditional perspectives of heuristic and…

Uses the metaphor of shadows in a critical exploration of what it means to know and how the cultures of classrooms have shaped these images of knowing. Directs attention to objects that cast shadows on the learning and knowing of mathematics and science through the voices of preservice teachers. Discusses shadow casting toward textbooks, teachers,…

Reports on the third of a line of investigations that examine pre-service teachers' conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and the translation of those conceptions into classroom practice. Delineates the effectiveness of an intervention designed to facilitate pre-service teachers' inclusion of NOS in their classroom teaching. (Author/MM)