Examining Pre-service Elementary Teachers' Changing Beliefs within the Context of Mathematics Education Course
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Abstract
This study was done to determine the changes in belief of pre-service elementary teachers in a mathematics education
course towards mathematics, and to address the effect of gender and academic success variables on this change. The study was designed according to the panel study model of longitudinal research method. 92 pre-service teachers who are being educated in the primary school teaching department of a state university in the 2013-2014 academic years formed the research sample. A data collection tool “Mathematics Belief Scale” developed by Steiner (2007) and whose reliability, validity and language equivalency in the Turkish form that was examined by Masal and Takunyacı (2012), was used. In analyzing the data, a paired samples t-test and, for repeated measures, a two-way ANOVA technique were used. At the end of research, positive change was observed in terms of the beliefs of the pre-service teachers towards mathematics as a result of the mathematics education course; it was also found that the gender and academic success variables have no effect on the beliefs of pre-service teachers with regard to mathematics.
Keywords: belief, mathematics education, pre-service elementary teachers
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