ERIC Number: EJ1161239
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Dec
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1571-0068
EISSN: N/A
Preservice Teachers' Reconciliation of an Epistemological Issue in an Integrated Mathematics/Science Methods Course
Cormas, Peter C.
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, v15 n8 p1463-1483 Dec 2017
Preservice teachers in six sections (n = 87) of a sequenced, methodological and process-integrated elementary mathematics/science methods course were able to reconcile an issue centered on a similar area of epistemology. Preservice teachers participated in a science inquiry lesson on biological classification and a mathematics problem-solving lesson on polyhedra. Preservice teachers were asked why it was possible to derive a mathematical formula for polyhedra and not organisms and what this implies about the similarities and differences between the epistemologies of mathematics and science. An area of epistemology known as simplicity was triangulated as "simple versus complex" emerged from the constant comparative method (28%) and "justification and simplicity" (96%) was coded with a content analysis. Implications include how methods course instructors can create other appropriate activities which incorporate and reconcile other areas of epistemology.
Descriptors: Preservice Teachers, Student Teacher Attitudes, Epistemology, Integrated Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Approach, Mathematics Instruction, Science Instruction, Teaching Methods, Methods Courses, Elementary Education, Science Process Skills, Biology, Classification, Problem Solving, Mathematical Formulas, Grounded Theory, Content Analysis, Learning Processes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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