Examining Pre-service Elementary Teachers' Changing Beliefs within the Context of Mathematics Education Course
Main Article Content
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
Downloads
Article Details
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (SeeThe Effect of Open Access).
References
Adnan, M., & Zakaria, E. (2010). Exploring beliefs of pre-service mathematics teachers: A Malaysian perspective. Asian Social Science, 6(10), 152-159.
Emenaker, C. (1996). A problem-solving based mathematics course and elementary teachers’ beliefs. School Science and Mathematics, 96(2), 74-83.
Ernest, P. (1989). The knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of the mathematics teacher: A model. Journal of Education for Teaching, 15, 13-33.
Evans, B. R., Leonard, J., Krier, K. & Ryan, S. (2013). The influence of a reform based mathematics methods course on pre-service teachers’ beliefs. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 3(1), 79-92.
Foss, D. H., & Klinsasser, R. C. (1996). Pre-service elementary teachers' views of pedagogical and mathematical content knowledge. Teaching & Teacher Education, 12(4), 429-442.
Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (2009). How To Design And Evaluate Research Ä°n Education (6th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill International Edition.
Gates, P. (2006). Going beyond belief systems: Exploring a model for the social influence on mathematics teacher beliefs. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 63, 347–369. DOI: 10.1007/s10649-005-9007-z.
Gill, M. G., Ashton, P. T., & Algina, J. (2004). Changing pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs about teaching and learning in mathematics: An intervention study. Contemporary Educational Psychology 29 (2004) 164–185.
Harding-DeKam, J. L. (2005). Construction and validation of an instrument for assessing prospective elementary teachers’ attitudes and beliefs in mathematics. Unpublished doctoral dissertations, University of Northern Colorado, Colorado.
Hart, L. C. (2002). Pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practice after participating in an ıntegrated content/methods course. School Science and Mathematics, 102(1), 4-14.
Kayan, R., Haser, C. & Işıksal Bostan, M. (2013). Pre-service mathematics teachers’ beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning mathematics. Education and Science, 38(167), 179-195.
Masal, E. & Takunyacı, M. (2012). The Turkish adaptation of mathematics belief scale: The validity and reliability study, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 64( 2012), 123-132.
Mischo, C., & Maaß, K. (2013). The effect of teacher beliefs on student competence in mathematical modeling - an intervention study. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 1(1), 19-38.
Perry, B., Way, J., Southwell, B., White, A., & Pattison, J. (2005). Mathematical beliefs and achievement of pre-service primary teachers. In P. Clarkson, A. Downton, D. Gronn, M. Horne, A. McDonough, R. Pierce, & A. Roche (Eds.), Building connections: Research, theory and practice (Proceedings of the 28th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Vol. 2, pp. 625-632). Sydney: MERGA. Retrieved from http://www.merga.net.au/documents/RP712005.pdf
Philipp, R. A. (2007). Mathematics teachers’ beliefs and affect. In F. K. Lester (Ed.), Second handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 257-315). United States: Information Age Publishing.
Pişkin-Tunc, M. & Haser, C. (2012). Sınıf öğretmeni adaylarının matematik öğretimine ilişkin inanışlarının incelenmesi. X. Ulusal Fen Bilimleri ve Matematik Eğitimi Kongresi, Niğde. Retrieved from http://kongre.nigde.edu.tr/xufbmek/dosyalar/tam_metin/pdf/2493-30_05_2012-23_25_02.pdf
Raymond, A. M. (1997). Inconsistency between a beginning elementary school teacher’s mathematics beliefs and teaching practices. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(5), 550-576.
Scharton, S. M. (2007). What it means to be an elementary mathematics teacher : changing practices and understandings over the course of pre-service professional development. Unpublished doctoral dissertations, University of California, San Diego.
Schommer-Aikins, M., Duell, O. K., Hutter, R. (2005). Epistemological beliefs, mathematical problem-solving beliefs, and academic performance of middle school students. The Elementary School Journal, 105(3), 289-304
Schuck, S. (1996). Chains in primary teacher mathematics education courses: An analysis of powerful constraints. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 8(2), 119-136.
Seaman, C. E., Szydlik, J. E., Szydlik, S. D. &. Beam, J. E. (2005). A comparison of preservice elementary teachers’ beliefs about mathematics and teaching mathematics: 1968 and 1998, School Science and Mathematics, 105(4) 197-210.
Steiner, L. A. (2007). The effect of personal and epistemological beliefs on performance in a college developmental mathematics class. Unpublished doctoral dissertations, Kansas State University, Kansas.
Stipek, D. J., Givvin, K. B., Salmon, J. M., & MacGyvers, V. L. (2001). Teachers' beliefs and practices related to mathematics instruction. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17 (2001), 213, 226.
Suther, V. & Tarmizi, R. A. (2010). Effects of students’ beliefs on mathematics and achievement of university students: Regression analysis approach. Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2), 146-152.
Swars, L. S., Smith, S. Z., & Smith, M. E., Hart, L. C. (2009). A longitudinal study of effects of a developmental teacher preparation program on elementary prospective teachers’ mathematics beliefs. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(1), 47-66. doi:10.1007/s10857-008-9092-x
Tam, A. C. F. (2015) The role of a professional learning community in teacher change: a perspective from beliefs and practices. Teachers And Teaching: Theory And Practice, 21(1), 22-43. DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2014.928122
Thompson, A. (1992). Teachers beliefs and conceptions: A synthesis of the research. In A. D. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics learning and teaching (pp. 127-146). New York: Macmillan.
Tillema, H. H. & Knol, W. E. (1997). Collaborative planning by teacher educators to promote belief change in their students, Teachers And Teaching: Theory And Practice, 3(1), 29-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1354060970030103
Tillema, H. H. (1998) Stability and change in student teachers’ beliefs about teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and practice, 4(2), 217-228, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1354060980040202
White, A. L., Perry, B., Way, J., & Southwell, B. (2005). Mathematical attitudes, beliefs and achievement in primary pre-service mathematics teacher education. Mathematics Teacher Education & Development, 7, 33–52. Retrieved from http://www.merga.net.au/documents/MTED_7_White.pdf
Wilkins, J. L. M. (2008). The relationship among elementary teachers’ content knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Journal Math Teacher Education (2008) 11,139-164.DOI 10.1007/s10857-007-9068-2.
Wilkins, J. L. M., & Brand, B. R. (2004). Change in pre-service teachers’ belief: An evaluation of a mathematics methods course. School Science and Mathematics, 104(5), 226-232.
Yesil-Dagli, U., Lake, V. E., & Jones, I. (2010). Pre-service teachers’ beliefs about mathematics and science content and teaching. Journal of Research in Education, 20(2), 32-48.