Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Penny J. Gilmer, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Middle and Secondary Education. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 23, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to construct a valid and reliable mathematics related beliefs scale for determining preservice elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / mathematics related beliefs in Turkey and investigating the impact of the gender and year level on the preservice mathematics teachers&rsquo / mathematics related beliefs. For the first purpose, the &ldquo / Mathematics Related Belief Scale (MRBS)&rdquo / was developed based on the combination of the belief frameworks in the literature. Data were collected from ten different universities from Ankara, Balikesir, Burdur, Bolu, Gaziantep, Izmir, Van, and Samsun in the spring semester of 2009-2010 academic year. A total of 584 third and fourth year preservice mathematics teachers participated in this study. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that MRBS was a valid and reliable scale which measured Turkish preservice teachers&rsquo / mathematics related beliefs. MRBS had two components &ldquo / constructivist beliefs&rdquo / and &ldquo / traditional beliefs&rdquo / of mathematics and teaching mathematics. There was a significant effect of gender on preservice teachers&rsquo / mathematics related beliefs. No significant difference in preservice teachers&rsquo / mathematics related beliefs was detected in terms of year level in the teacher education program. The MRBS could be used for investigating preservice teachers&rsquo / mathematics related beliefs in order to determine effective teacher education program experiences.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a mathematics teaching methods course on pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / content knowledge for teaching mathematics (CKTM). In order to accomplish this purpose, pre-service mathematics teachers&rsquo / understanding of basic concepts and procedures in school mathematics, use of mathematical definitions, presentation of mathematical content to students, identification of common errors, misconceptions and solution strategies and evaluation of unusual solution methods were examined with the help of a multiple choice test. The data were collected from 43 senior pre-service mathematics teachers from a teacher education program at a large public university in Ankara. The participants were given an 83-item test to measure their content knowledge for mathematics teaching at the beginning and after the methods course. The purpose of the pre- and post-test assessment was to measure the amount of change in the participants&#039 / knowledge for mathematics teaching. The test was developed and piloted at the University of Michigan in the USA for Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT) Project. Quantitative data analysis techniques were used to answer the research questions. The results indicated that there was a significant effect of the mathematics teaching methods course on pre-service teachers&rsquo / content knowledge for teaching mathematics. Moreover, the findings showed that there is no significant mean difference between male and female pre-service teachers, and between the pre-service teachers who have taken at least one mathematics teaching elective course and the ones who have not taken any elective course related to mathematics teaching in terms of their CKTM. Also, the study showed that there is a significant positive relationship between pre-service teachers&rsquo / CKTM and their academic achievement on undergraduate mathematics content courses. The study is expected to make important contributions to the literature by providing information about whether the methods courses significantly contribute to pre-service teachers&rsquo / understanding of knowledge for mathematics teaching. Moreover, the findings of the study is hoped to inform teacher educators and policy makers about the needs and improvements in teacher preparation programs.