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- Title
Elementary Mathematics Teacher Preparation in an Era of Reform: The Development and Assessment of Mathematics for Teaching.
- Authors
Kajander, Ann
- Abstract
Teachers' understanding of the elementary school mathematics curriculum forms part, but not all, of the newly emerged field of mathematics for teaching, a term that describes the specialised mathematics knowledge of teachers. Pre-service teachers from a one-year teacher preparation program were studied in each of three years, using a pre-test/post-test survey of procedural and conceptual knowledge of mathematics required by elemtary teachers . Beliefs about mathematics were also examined through post-test interviews of 22 of the participants from one of the cohorts. Each cohort of teacher-candidates was consistently found to be initially weak in conceptual understanding of basic mathematics concepts as needed for teaching. The pre-service methods course, which included a strong focus on specialised mathematical concepts, significantly improved pre-service teachers' understandings, but only to a minimally acceptable level. Program changes, such as extra optional course in mathematics for teaching, together with a mandatory high-stakes examination in mathematics for teaching at the end of the methods course, have been subsequently implemented and show some promise.
- Subjects
MATHEMATICS education; TRAINING of mathematics teachers; CURRICULUM; COHORT analysis; CURRICULUM-based assessment; TEACHING methods; EXAMINATION item analysis
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne de l'Éducation, 2010, Vol 33, Issue 1, p228
- ISSN
0380-2361
- Publication type
Article