Capturing how students' abilities and teaching experiences affect teachers' beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning (original) (raw)
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Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs About Teaching and Learning: Some Significant Factors
The espoused beliefs of 465 secondary mathematics teachers in Greek State secondary schools regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics were the focus of this study. The data for this investigation were collected using a 34 items questionnaire. There is evidence from this study that there are teachers who may be assumed to espouse a 'constructivist or contemporary orientation', teachers who may be assumed to espouse a 'dynamic problem-driven orientation', teachers who may be assumed to espouse 'traditional-static' and 'traditional-mechanistic' beliefs, and teachers who espouse a 'cooperative orientation' to mathematics learning and mathematics teaching. It was also found that teacher characteristics, such as, gender, teaching experience, position held and postgraduate qualifications possessed, significantly influence teachers' beliefs about mathematics and the teaching-learning process. Teachers' beliefs influence their classroo...
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The purpose of this study was to investigate prospective mathematics teachers’ beliefs about the teaching of mathematics. The research was conducted on 79 fourth year students enrolled at the Mathematics Teacher Education programs at Middle East Technical University and Gazi University. A ‘Beliefs about the Teaching of Mathematics Scale’ was developed by the researchers. The design of the present study is that of a cross-sectional survey. The results of the study indicate that: 1. there is a statistically significant difference between tire mean scores of prospective mathematics teachers at METU and those at Gazi University in terms of beliefs about the teaching of mathematics, and 2. Trere is no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of males and females in terms of beliefs about the teaching of mathematics.
lnternational Electronic Journal of Elementary Education
This paper reports a two-year research project studying Indonesian primary and secondary teachers' mathematics-related beliefs (MrB) and mathematical problem-solving knowledge for teaching (MPSKT). In the first year, a quantitative study involving 80 primary teachers, 70 lower secondary school, and 55 upper secondary schools from four districts in East Java province, Indonesia was carried out to examine whether there is a difference between the MrB and the MPSKT among them. In the second year, a multiple case study involving ten primary teachers and 13 lower secondary teachers was conducted to understand their MrB and MPSKT through some particular issues related to three domains of MrB: nature of mathematics, mathematics teaching, mathematics learning. Results indicate that there is no significant difference of MrB between primary and secondary teachers, while there is a significant difference between the MPSKT of primary teachers and secondary teacher. Findings also suggest that inconsistencies not only occur between the three domains of MrB but also occurs between particular issues discussed within one domain. Also, this study highlights that teacher beliefs about nature of mathematics were mainly influenced by teachers' experience when learning mathematics during their schooling experience while teacher beliefs about teaching and learning were mainly influenced by the demand of current reform of mathematics curriculum.
Journal of Education and Practice, 2014
The level of basic numeracy achievement in Malaysian education system is a growing concern to key stakeholders. Apart from monitoring numeracy standards, no attempt has been made to explore what are the beliefs of Malaysian primary school teachers' beliefs towards mathematics teaching and learning. It is important to understand teacher beliefs since ultimately these beliefs lead to student achievement in mathematics. Thus, this research examined the beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning held by Malaysian primary school (SK, SJKC and SJKT) teachers. A quantitative approach with a survey design was used. A total of 174 primary mathematics teachers from South Seberang Perai district of Penang participated in this research. A survey instrument with 18 items (Mathematics Beliefs Scales) was adapted from Capraro, and and administered to the SK, SJKC and SJKT teachers in order to determine their beliefs regarding mathematics teaching and learning on three subscales, namely beliefs about student learning, beliefs about the stages of learning and beliefs about the teaching practices. Teachers' responses derived from participation in the survey were analyzed for formal and informal mathematics beliefs. Descriptive statistics were calculated to explore the beliefs of SK, SJKC and SJKT mathematics teachers. Results indicated that most of the teachers expressed beliefs that tended to fall in the mid-range between formal and informal mathematics beliefs. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted and statistically significant differences were found in the mean scores of the three subscales of the Mathematics Beliefs Scales between SK, SJKC and SJKT mathematics teachers. The SJKC teachers were found to favour more informal beliefs in teaching and learning mathematics than their counterparts from SK and SJKT. Conclusions suggest as the most of primary mathematics teachers, especially from SK and SJKT have a mixture of both formal and informal beliefs, professional development must address their fundamental beliefs about mathematics so that they would adopt informal beliefs to enhance their mathematics teaching and learning.
The Mathematics Teacher’s Beliefs about Mathematics Knowledge and Its Teaching: A Case Study
The Mathematics Teacher’s Beliefs about Mathematics Knowledge and Its Teaching: A Case Study, 2011
The aim of this study is to present the insights of the mathematics teacher’s beliefs on mathematical knowledge, and its teaching and learning. The case study method is used in this study. The study pursued along with the participation of one secondary mathematics teacher in the fall semester of 2007-2008 instruction year in Trabzon providence. The interviews realized during approximately 45 minutes with the interviewee for the four times. In the interviews, three data collection forms were used as the data collection tool. These are: a) Semi-structured interview form, b) Hypothetical situations called “episodes” as a means to initiate responses from the informant, c) Documents that are including pictures reflecting different classroom settings and about the nature of mathematical knowledge. By using Magolda’s Epistemological Reflection Model, the data obtained were analyzed descriptively in a qualitative manner. Besides holding some strict beliefs on nature of mathematical knowledge, evaluation, and mathematical teaching, participant have some flexible beliefs about mathematics and its teaching, in addition, it was concluded that participant open to some new perceptions. However, we believe that by conducting similar studies with larger samples it might be possible to contribute to teacher training researches in our country.
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2020
Studies measuring teachers' beliefs quantitatively by using self-report Likert scale instruments often face methodological difficulties. Such difficulties might be due to the fact that those instruments often provide less or no contexts. Whereas, several studies have shown that contexts at school, particularly contexts related to students' abilities, may influence teachers' beliefs. To overcome such difficulties, we offer an approach by using rank-then-rate items instead of Likert scale items and by explicitly taking into account students' abilities within a questionnaire. In this study, we had 43 Indonesian teachers answering this questionnaire to investigate how students' abilities influence teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning of mathematics and problem solving as well as the interrelation between these beliefs with their beliefs about mathematics. The results suggest that teachers may elicit different beliefs about teaching and learning in the context of students' abilities. Furthermore, we found that teachers' beliefs about mathematics correlate with their beliefs about teaching and learning in the context of low ability students, but not in the context of high ability students.
The Relationship Between Teacher and Student Beliefs About Mathematics
School Science and Mathematics, 1997
In this study the relationship between teacher (n = 7) beliefs about mathematics, the learning and teaching of mathematics and their respective students' beliefs about mathematics (n = 158) are examined. The data were collected by means of two instruments specifically designed to measure belief systems about mathematics. Teacher scores were adjusted so that a higher score reflected beliefs in aligntnent with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards. Results indicated that the students of teachers whose beliefs were in alignment with the NCTM Standards had significantly different beliefs about factors that lead to success in mathematics than did other students. Specifically these students felt that working hard to solve problems and striving for understanding would lead to success. No student differences were found for subscales of ego orientation, competitiveness, interest and extrinsic factors such as neatness and cooperation. These findings suggest that this group of teachers practiced what they believed and that these practices affected what their students believed about mathematics. We suggest that using these two assessments in tandem give a clearer picture of the mathematical environment within a classroom and can be used in professional development workshops to initiate teacher reflection about classroom practices.