Browsing by Subject "Preservice Teachers"
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Item The effects of African American and European American males' behavior styles on preservice teachers' ratings of acceptability, achievement, and aggression.(2010-12) Cichy, Bryan ErvinAfrican American students are overrepresented in the category of Emotional Disturbance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act across the United States. This study examined how preservice teachers rated African American and European American students on three ratings scales across four culturally mediated behaviors: (a) movement style, (b) self advocacy style, (c) greeting style, and (d) volume of voice. The three dependent variables were an author-created acceptability index and the achievement and aggression scales from the Adjective Checklist (Gough & Heilbrun, 1983). Subjects included 211 preservice teachers enrolled in graduate level education courses. Preservice teachers were divided into groups and shown 4 of 16 videos depicting African American and European American students engaging in typical school behaviors in culturally mediated manners. Factorial analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Preservice teachers rated European American behavior styles as more favorable than African American styles in 8 of 12 effects studied and African American behavior styles as more favorable in 2 of 12. Fewer significant effects were found strictly on the basis of the race of the students with 3 of 12 effects showing students of African American race as more favorable and 1 of 12 effects showing students of European American race as more favorable.Item Exploring the impact of a standards-based Mathematics and pedagogy class on preservice teachers' beliefs and subject matter knowledge.(2012-05) Stohlmann, Micah StephenThis case study explored the impact of a standards-based mathematics and pedagogy class on preservice elementary teachers' beliefs and conceptual subject matter knowledge of linear functions. The framework for the standards-based mathematics and pedagogy class in this study involved the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, the Lesh Translation Model, building algebra through the elementary grades, social constructivism, and research on childrens' mathematical thinking from the Rational Number Project. The rich description of the mathematics and pedagogy class in this study provides relevant information for properly structuring mathematics content classes to prepare elementary teachers to be able to help all students learn mathematics. Overall, the preservice teachers demonstrated the most developed understanding in the realistic, language, symbolic, and concrete representations; while the pictorial representation was often not as fully developed. They also showed the ability to provide reasoning and justification for their mathematical ideas. The preservice teachers' beliefs about the teaching and learning of mathematics became more inline with standards-based learning environments. The preservice teachers were especially impacted by the Rational Number Project research on fraction division and fraction multiplication to see the benefit of having conceptual understanding of concepts in different representations. However, there were a few areas where the preservice teachers showed little evidence of beliefs: that the teacher should let children do most of the thinking in a mathematics class and that mathematics is a web of interrelated concepts and procedures.Item Mathematics Experiences of Preservice Elementary Teachers and the Impact on Mathematics Identity and Mathematics Teacher Identity(2021-12) Norman, FawndaMany elementary teachers, who teach foundational mathematics topics, have a complicated and dynamic relationship with mathematics (Bekdemir, 2010; Brown et al., 2011; Novak & Tassell, 2017). The understanding of these mathematical experiences and the connection to mathematics identity is critical for the transformation of teacher preparation programs. Identity is dynamic in nature and is expressed and shaped by different factors. Social structures, emotions, narratives, and mathematics dispositions are four major factors in both expressing and shaping mathematics teacher identity. A qualitative study was conducted on the experiences preservice elementary teachers had with mathematics before entering their teacher preparation programs. A continuum of stories was collected of their mathematics experiences throughout their K-12 schooling. These narratives were examined to explore themes connecting their experiences to their current mathematics identity and their emerging mathematics teacher identity. Narrative Inquiry was used to analyze the data of the preservice elementary teachers’ experiences finding themes that connect to social structures, emotions, narratives, and mathematics dispositions, and the impact on their mathematics identity and mathematics teacher identity. Narratives and visual sequential narratives are used to present findings in a unique way to connect this research to a broader audience of scholars. The findings of this study present themes and implications that contribute to the body of literature on mathematics identity and mathematics teacher identity.Item Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Understandings of the Connections Among Decimals, Fractions, and the Set of Rational Numbers: A Descriptive Case Study(2015-12) Pettis, ChristyThe mathematical knowledge needed for teaching is a specialized form of mathematical knowledge, (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). One important area of mathematical understanding for elementary teachers is the area of number and numeration. Mathematically, the sets of whole and rational numbers and their corresponding notational systems are deeply interconnected. Ensuring that preservice elementary teachers understand the ways these sets of numbers and notations are connected, both mathematically and developmentally, is a critical component of teacher education coursework. This study is a descriptive case study (Yin, 2014) documenting preservice elementary teachers’ ways of understanding the relationships among fractions, decimals, and the sets of rational and irrational numbers. The unit of analysis was a single class of preservice elementary teachers participating in an eight-week instructional unit designed to support them in making explicit connections between concepts related to number and numeration. The broad agenda for this study is to support the development of curricula that may productively and efficiently develop preservice teachers’ understandings of the connections among fractions, decimals, and the sets of rational and irrational numbers. This study extends prior work on bridging tools (Abrahamson & Wilensky, 2007) by documenting how two bridging tools were used to promote understanding of the connections between fraction and decimal notation. Results from early in the unit indicate that preservice elementary teachers’ initial understandings of the connections among fractions, decimals, and the set of rational numbers were limited and often inaccurate. Limited understandings of decimal notation were also documented. Finally, the preservice teachers primarily used symbolic representations to explain the connection between fractions and decimals. After the unit, the preservice teachers showed a more connected understanding of the relationships among fractions, decimals, and the set of rational numbers. The majority of preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to use multiple, non-symbolic representations in order to find and explain connections between fractions and decimals. Widespread understandings of decimal notation were documented, but these understandings were applied inconsistently. Together, the results suggest that a connected approach to curriculum design shows promise as a way to address multiple areas of preservice teachers’ content understandings simultaneously.