“Informal Mathematics Activities and the Beliefs of Elementary Teacher Candidates”

Document Type

Presentation Abstract

Presentation Date

3-17-2011

Abstract

Recent educational reforms have called for greater incorporation of informal (i.e. creative, investigative and generative) approaches to learning mathematics in K-12 classrooms (NCTM, 1991; NCTM, 2000). In spite of such reforms, mathematics education research indicates the continuance of formal (i.e. rule-driven, algorithmic) approaches to the subject in elementary school teacher candidates. Consequently, the literature has called for teacher educators to challenge pre- service teachers’ formal notions of mathematics (i.e. Seaman, et al., 2005). This dissertation study reveals that informal mathematical activity coupled with personal reflection has a transformative effect on the formal beliefs of elementary school teachers. Contrasting results were obtained for beliefs about mathematics as opposed to beliefs about mathematics instruction. The transformation of beliefs was also found to depend upon the nature of the informal activity. These differential results have prompted a “critical zone” theory for the use of such activities as agents of educational reform in elementary school teacher preparation.

Additional Details

Doctoral Dissertation Defense. Link to the presenter's dissertation.

Dissertation Committee:
Bharath Sriraman, Chair (Mathematical Sciences),
Albert Borgmann (Philosophy),
Jon Graham (Mathematical Sciences),
James Hirstein (Mathematical Sciences),
Ke Norman (Mathematical Sciences)

Thursday, March 17, 2011
12:30 pm in Native American Center 105

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