There are many researchers that emphasize the importance of how teachers’ knowledge will affect students’ learning. However, not much research is focused on an international comparison between preservice mathematics teachers’ procedural knowledge and conceptual knowledge. There were 91 preservice mathematics teachers involved in this study. A test on the operations on fractions, decimals, percentages, and integers knowledge showed a) the significant differences between the United States and Chinese preservice teachers’ (PTS) procedural knowledge, b) the significant differences between the United States and Chinese PTS’ conceptual knowledge, and c) the relationships between the United States and Chinese PTS’ procedural knowledge and conceptual knowledge. By comparing the results, the researcher determined the strengths and weaknesses of preservice mathematics teachers in the two countries. The researcher will provide PTS some information based on the results of the knowledge test.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:31:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-11-01Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:22:46Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 fernandes_dn_dr_rcla.pdf: 5890509 bytes, checksum: 66193e360485b1d6627c4908af3fd44f (MD5) / Esta pesquisa objetiva apresentar um registro histórico do processo da formação de professores de Matemática no estado do Maranhão num período que tem como marco inicial a implantação, na década de 1960, do primeiro curso de Licenciatura Plena em Matemática no estado. A metodologia utilizada é a História Oral, e as fontes são tanto textualizações de entrevistas quanto registros escritos disponíveis. Foram entrevistados profissionais de três instituições públicas de ensino superior do estado que trabalharam como docentes quando da implantação e/ou da elaboração dos projetos dos primeiros cursos de Licenciatura Plena em Matemática e alunos da primeira turma graduada, no estado, em Matemática. O desenvolvimento da pesquisa nos permitiu compreender que o cenário da formação de professores de Matemática no Maranhão, desde a implantação do primeiro curso, é pontuado de urgências e carências, todas fortemente associadas aos contornos das políticas governamentais idealizadas para o ensino superior. Com a intenção de ressaltar a dialogicidade que caracteriza todo processo investigativo, a redação do trabalho aposta no estilo epistolar e se constitui, portanto, como uma sequência de cartas trocadas entre a autora e um personagem fictício / This research aims to present a historical record of the process of Math Teachers Formation in undergraduate courses in institutions of the state of Maranhao, Brazil, since the creation of the first university, in the 1960's, until today. It was developed using Oral History as its main methodological approach, and the historical sources were interviews and a diversity of written documentation available. The interviews were collected with professionals who worked as teachers of those institutions, or were responsible for the preparation of the first educational projects related to teachers formation in Maranhão, or were students of the first classes of those first courses. The research allowed us to understand that the scenario of the formation of mathematics teachers in Maranhão was, in the beginning, and still is, until our days, characterized by urgency and by all sort of needs, all these urgencies and needs associated with the contours of government policies for higher education on Brazil. The final text is presented as a set of letters exchanged between the author and a fictional character, in order to highlight, as a metaphor, the dialogical process that characterizes the research process itself

Orientador: Antonio Vicente Marafioti Garnica / Banca: Maria Ângela Miorim / Banca: Maria Carolina Bovério Galzerani / Banca: Maria Célia Leme da Silva / Banca: Maria Laura Magalhães Gomes / Resumo: Esta pesquisa objetiva apresentar um registro histórico do processo da formação de professores de Matemática no estado do Maranhão num período que tem como marco inicial a implantação, na década de 1960, do primeiro curso de Licenciatura Plena em Matemática no estado. A metodologia utilizada é a História Oral, e as fontes são tanto textualizações de entrevistas quanto registros escritos disponíveis. Foram entrevistados profissionais de três instituições públicas de ensino superior do estado que trabalharam como docentes quando da implantação e/ou da elaboração dos projetos dos primeiros cursos de Licenciatura Plena em Matemática e alunos da primeira turma graduada, no estado, em Matemática. O desenvolvimento da pesquisa nos permitiu compreender que o cenário da formação de professores de Matemática no Maranhão, desde a implantação do primeiro curso, é pontuado de urgências e carências, todas fortemente associadas aos contornos das políticas governamentais idealizadas para o ensino superior. Com a intenção de ressaltar a dialogicidade que caracteriza todo processo investigativo, a redação do trabalho aposta no estilo epistolar e se constitui, portanto, como uma sequência de cartas trocadas entre a autora e um personagem fictício / Abstract: This research aims to present a historical record of the process of Math Teachers Formation in undergraduate courses in institutions of the state of Maranhao, Brazil, since the creation of the first university, in the 1960's, until today. It was developed using Oral History as its main methodological approach, and the historical sources were interviews and a diversity of written documentation available. The interviews were collected with professionals who worked as teachers of those institutions, or were responsible for the preparation of the first educational projects related to teachers formation in Maranhão, or were students of the first classes of those first courses. The research allowed us to understand that the scenario of the formation of mathematics teachers in Maranhão was, in the beginning, and still is, until our days, characterized by urgency and by all sort of needs, all these urgencies and needs associated with the contours of government policies for higher education on Brazil. The final text is presented as a set of letters exchanged between the author and a fictional character, in order to highlight, as a metaphor, the dialogical process that characterizes the research process itself / Doutor

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-09-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T21:00:56Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 faustino_mp_me_prud.pdf: 1165306 bytes, checksum: 0bc30e975d4a6840e25fc4ca4c30e484 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Neste trabalho, vinculado à linha de pesquisa “Práticas e Processos Formativos em Educação”, apresentamos resultados de uma pesquisa que tem por objetivo investigar o(s) modelo(s) de formação continuada subjacente(s) às ações de formação continuada de Matemática oferecidos pela rede municipal de ensino de Presidente Prudente e a contribuição dessas ações de formação para a construção de saberes docentes. A relevância da pesquisa está amparada na lei que regulamenta o Fundo de Manutenção e Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica e de Valorização dos Profissionais da Educação (FUNDEB) e que em um de seus artigos estabelece que os municípios devem implantar Planos de Carreira que contemplem a capacitação profissional especialmente voltada à formação continuada com vistas a melhoria da qualidade de ensino. Delimitamos como objetivos específicos: investigar a legislação relacionada à formação continuada de professores; traçar o perfil dos professores; investigar quais ações de formação continuada foram oferecidas pela Seduc de Presidente Prudente; investigar como os professores caracterizam as ações de formação continuada de Matemática das quais participaram e se reconhecem mudanças na sua prática após participarem de tais ações; investigar o que os professores dizem dominar em relação aos conteúdos matemáticos e aos recursos didáticos; investigar o que as ações de formação continuada devem contemplar, na opinião dos professores e da coordenadora pedagógica e qual a sua contribuição para a carreira do professor, segundo a coordenadora. A pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa do tipo exploratória, utilizou como instrumentos de coleta de dados questionário, entrevista e análise documental. Os dados dos questionários respondidos por 201 professores constituem... / In this work, linked to the research line “Practice and Formative Processes in Education”, we present results of a survey that aims to investigate the model(s) of continuing formation underlying the actions of the continuing formation of Mathematics offered by the municipal schools in Presidente Prudente and the contribution of these actions of formation for the construction of teacher knowledge. The relevance of the research is supported in the law that governs the Fundo de Manutenção e Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica e de Valorização dos Profissionais da Educação (FUNDEB – Fund for Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Appreciation of the Teaching Profession) and in one of its articles it states that municipalities must implement Career Plans that include professional training especially focused on continuing education with a view to improving the quality of teaching. Our specific objectives: to investigate the law related to continuing formation of teachers; to draw the profiles of teachers; to investigate which actions of continuing formation have been offered by Seduc of Presidente Prudente; to investigate how the teachers characterize the actions of continuing formation for Mathematics which they participate and recognize changes in their practice after participating in such actions; to investigate what teachers say they know in relation to the mathematical subjects and the teaching resources; to investigate what the actions of continuing formation should include, in the opinion of teachers and the educational coordinator and where their contribution to the career of the teacher, according to the coordinator. The research, of qualitative exploratory type, used as instrument of data collection questionnaire, interview and documentary analysis. The data from questionnaires answered by 201 teachers... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The purpose of the study was to investigate prospective 'A' level mathematics teachers’ knowledge of the concept of a function. The study was a case study of six prospective Zimbabwean teachers who were majoring in mathematics with the intention of completing a programme leading to certification as secondary mathematics teachers. At the time of the study the six prospective teachers were in their final year of study. Prospective teachers' knowledge of the concept of a function was assessed through task-based interviews and reflective interviews. These interviews, which were done over a period of three months, were structured to capture the prospective teachers' subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for teaching the concept of a function. The interviews were also meant to capture the prospective teachers' underlining pedagogical reasons for their choices of the examples, representations and teaching approaches when planning to teach the concept. As part of the study a theoretical framework for understanding prospective teachers' knowledge of the concept of a function was developed. The framework, which was developed, was used as an analytical tool in analyzing prospective teacher’s knowledge of the concept of a function. The results of the study indicated that the prospective teachers had a process conception of a function although some of them had given a set-theoretic definition of a function in which a function is perceived as a mathematical object. They also confined the notion of a function to sets of real numbers. Functions defined on other mathematical objects (for example, the differential operator and the determinant function) were not considered as functions by five of the six prospective teachers. / South Africa

The central position in this study is that the professional identities, and consequently the classroom practices, of mathematics teachers are continuously being shaped by their narratives of past and present experiences. The primary research question explores the narratives that shape the professional identities of seven mathematics teachers; and the secondary research question, how their narratives shape their professional identities. Furthermore, the potential implications of this study for the design and implementation of pre-service teacher education programmes and in-service teacher development initiatives are considered. This study is framed by Socioculturalism; a theoretical perspective of human thinking as social in origin and of learning as participation in social practices. Futhermore, in line with Situated Learning Theory, the key theoretical notions are: identity (or learning as becoming); community (or learning as belonging); practice (or learning as doing); and meaning (or learning as experience). Identity is construed here as a conceptual bridge between learning and its cultural settings; and also between the individual and the social. In this study, the identity-shaping narratives of seven mathematics teachers, all purposively sampled from schools in the Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown education districts of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, were accessed via a narrative inquiry; followed by a horizontal analysis to identify common patterns or recurring themes in the narratives of all seven participants; and, a vertical analysis of the narratives of four of the participants to determine how their narratives shape their professional identities. Recurring themes that emerged during the horizontal analysis include the influence of: family support; role models; changing work environments; continuous professional development; professional recognition; religion; and, micro-politics. The vertical analysis demonstrated how, through a process of interpreting the narratives and restorying them into a meaningful core narrative; it is possible to gain insights into how personal narratives shape a professional identity. This study highlights the importance of listening to the narratives of mathematics teachers; because their professional identities, and consequently their teaching practices, are continuously being shaped by their narratives. It is anticipated that this research will be of interest and benefit to researchers, policy-makers, and teachers; especially in the area of Mathematics Education, where both narrative inquiry as a research method and research into teachers’ professional identities are relatively new.

Mathematics is regarded as a driving force in economies worldwide. The performance of South African learners in mathematics over the past decade has highlighted that problems are being experienced across all grades. This situation needs to be addressed with urgency. The South African Department of Education stated that quality learning must be the objective for all grades. The implementation of good teaching practices plays a crucial role in improving the quality of education and in guiding learners towards quality learning. To achieve quality mathematics teaching and learning it is imperative to determine what good mathematics teaching practices are. The identification of good mathematic teaching practices will provide a yard stick to measure the mathematics teaching competency of teachers. This study identifies a set of good mathematics teaching practice indicators and evidences applicable to teachers in the Intermediate phase as a first contribution. These indicators and evidences frame the second research contribution: an assessment instrument entitled “A Classroom Observation Tool for Observing Mathematics Teaching Practices in Primary Schools”. As a third research contribution a generic profile of a Grade four mathematics teacher has been built. This generic profile has been built through an analysis of data gathered by means of self-assessment questionnaires completed by the research sample, as well as through applying the observation tool. The value of the generic profile lies in the identification of shared strengths and shared improvement opportunities in the mathematics teaching practice of the sample and as such, it forms the basis of a theory on Grade four mathematics teaching practice. The fourth research contribution is the design and application of an intervention that addresses the shared improvement opportunities. The research study concludes by comparing pre-intervention classroom observation data with post-intervention classroom observation data and reporting on the impact of the intervention.

This study used diagnostic tests, questionnaires and interviews to investigate explore teachers’ subject content knowledge (SCK) and pedagogical subject knowledge (PCK). It also explored teachers’ and learners’ misconceptions within the topic of graphicacy and how teachers’ SCK and PCK possibly affect learner achievement. A small sample of teachers were drawn from the Keiskammahoek region; a deep rural area of the Eastern Cape. These teachers were part of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Amathole Cluster Schools Project who were registered for a three-year BEd (FET) in-service programme in mathematics education. As part of the programme they studied mathematics 1 and 2 at university level and received quarterly non-formal workshops on teaching mathematics at FET level. The findings of this study suggest that teachers with insufficient SCK will probably have limited PCK, although the two are not entirely dependent on each other. In cases where teachers’ displayed low levels of SCK and PCK, their learners were more likely to perform poorly and their results often indicated similar misconceptions as displayed by their teachers. This implies that we have to look at what teachers know and what they need to know in terms of SCK and PCK if we are to plan effectively for effective teacher development aimed at improving learner performance.

Research on the relationship between mathematics education and society has established that societal change can have a direct effect on mathematics education. Qatar experienced a large amount of societal change since its leadership change in 1995. The literature would suggest that changes in mathematics education in Qatar would follow. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in mathematics education in Qatar from 1995 until 2018 and to understand the reasons for these changes. This study applied historic research methods in the form of primary source analysis. The primary sources consisted of text analysis and in-depth interviews. The texts included published reports from the Ministry of Education in Qatar and Qatari mathematics textbooks. Seven in-depth, semi-flexible interviews were conducted with educators involved with Qatar’s mathematics education system within the timeframe of interest. The findings revealed that there were significant changes in mathematics education in Qatar during this timeframe. Specifically, changes were made to the mathematics standards and curriculum, the mathematics language of instruction, mathematics assessments, and mathematics teachers’ preparation. New mathematics standards were created, and government-issued textbooks were abandoned for many years to encourage autonomy and creativity. The language of instruction in the mathematics classroom was transitioned from Arabic to English, and then back to Arabic again. New, national mathematics assessments were created to track the new mathematics reform project. They were later abandoned. The reasons for these many changes, and the challenges they created, touched on many different areas of research in mathematics education and sociology. These included policy borrowing, the language of instruction, knowledge societies, rentier societies, and the relationship between mathematics and society. The findings from this study confirmed that the rapid societal changes that occurred in Qatari society during this timeframe were mirrored by rapid changes in mathematics education within the country.

"Out of genuine desire to prepare oneself to handle, in a more effective way, the teaching of eighth grade mathematics, there comes to mind such questions as these: 1. What are the needs or tasks or problems of eighth grade pupils to which arithmetic can make a contribution? 2. What content is available in the state adopted textbooks? 3. How well is this material adapted to school needs of pupils of this age? 4. What reliable tests can be found? 5. What materials and plans of a general nature can be found or developed which, if revised later to fit the specific classroom situation, may prove of help in improving the teaching of mathematics?"--Introduction. / "August, 1952." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: W. Edwards, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33).