The problem this study addresses is the relationship among the constructs content knowledge, beliefs, and previous experiences of prospective elementary teachers. The 36 participants in the study, 35 females and one male, were recent graduates from a five-year Elementary Education licensure program at a major university located in the Mid-Atlantic region. A correlational research design was used to investigate the relationships that might exist among the three constructs using Praxis I Pre-professional Math test scores, Beliefs Survey scores, and Previous Mathematics Experience Questionnaire [PMEQ] scores. Scores from the Praxis I Pre-professional Math test were self-reported and verified by the Licensure Coordinator in the Center for Teacher Education [CTE]. Scores for the Beliefs Survey and Previous Mathematics Experience Questionnaire [PMEQ] were collected from the survey and questionnaire completed by each participant and the data were analyzed using SPSS software. A frequency distribution was constructed for the Praxis I Math Test scores, the Beliefs Survey scores, and the PMEQ scores. A Pearson correlation was constructed to analyze the relationship among the following variables: Praxis I Math Test, beliefs, and previous mathematics experiences (feelings, teaching tools, and quantity of math courses taken). An alpha level of .05 was used for all statistical tests. A significant positive correlation was found to exist between Praxis I Math Test scores and feelings about mathematics using a two-tailed test indicating that prospective elementary math teachers who have higher Praxis I math test scores tend to report having more positive feelings about mathematics. A significant negative correlation was found to exist between beliefs and teaching tools using a two-tailed test. This indicates a tendency by prospective teachers to favor more relational beliefs when their previous experiences included the use of a wide variety of teaching tools. The prospective teachers' responses to the essay question and interview questions support their stated beliefs about the importance of teachers emphasizing relational understanding. On their essay responses, all 36 participants indicated a desire to provide a relational oriented learning-environment in their future classrooms. The findings in the study support the notion that the prospective teachers in this group with stronger content knowledge tended to report more positive feelings about mathematics. They also tended to favor a relational teaching/learning environment if they had experiences using a wide variety of teaching tools. No significant correlation was found to exist between any of the other variables that were tested. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to identify the personality traits of effective elementary bilingual/ESL teachers, to identify the personality traits of effective traditional elementary teachers, and to compare the two groups.

The main aims of the current study are five fold (1) to develop a valid scale for measuring beliefs about education for sustainable development, (2) to adapt the values on sustainable development scale to the context of Turkey, (3) to explore elementary teachers&rsquo / familiarity with and understanding of sustainable development, (4) to determine the elementary teachers&rsquo / values on sustainable development, (5) to investigate their beliefs about education for sustainable development. In addition, the barriers elementary teachers have perceived regarding education for sustainable development, teaching strategies they have used in education for sustainable development and the possible relationship between barriers they have perceived and their beliefs about education for sustainable development was examined. The data of this study obtained from 211 elementary teachers who enrolled in the Green Pack and the Eco-Schools projects via direct administration and web-survey data collection methods in May to September 2012. The results revealed that Turkish elementary teachers lack of sufficient understandings of sustainable development. On the other hand, elementary teachers have favorable beliefs about education for sustainable development and favorable values on sustainable development. In addition, lack of the knowledge about sustainable development and lack of the knowledge about teaching sustainable development were relatively common barriers for these elementary teachers. Lastly, negative correlation between elementary teachers&rsquo / beliefs about education for sustainable development and barriers they have perceived was found.

The purpose of this study was to examine elementary teachers&rsquo / and elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / perceptions of mathematically gifted students in terms of teachers&rsquo / gender, year of experience and area of teaching. The data were collected from 176 elementary teachers and 90 elementary mathematics teachers from 60 state elementary schools in the center of Trabzon, in the fall semester of 2011-2012 academic year. In order to determine teachers&rsquo / perceptions of mathematical giftedness, the instrument called as Teachers&rsquo / Judgments of Gifted Mathematics Student Characteristic (TJGMSC) was used. The results were evaluated in terms of three dimensions of TJGMSC: school smart mathematics student, mathematics perspective for the real world and creative problem solver. Besides, in order to analyze the data, one-way MANOVA was conducted. The results of the study illustrated that there were no significant differences among teachers&rsquo / TJGMSC scores, in terms of their gender and year of experience. However, a significant difference was found between elementary teachers and elementary mathematics teachers in terms of their TJGMSC scores for only the dimension of school smart mathematics student. To illustrate, elementary teachers&rsquo / scores regarding this dimension were higher than those of elementary mathematics teachers.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe elementary and mathematics teachers&rsquo / views about the new elementary school mathematics curriculum (NC). A total of 22 elementary teachers (grades 1-5) and mathematics teachers (grades 6-8) Alaca district of &Ccedil / orum participated. The data were collected through one-to-one interviews with some of the participants and written responses for the interview questions provided by the rest of the participants. The findings indicated that the participants had positive views about the impact of the NC. Participants reported that the NC helped students reach meaningful learning through the instructional activities, new content, curriculum materials, and new assessment techniques. Participants had positive views about the new roles for the teachers and the students and the increased student motivation that the NC brought. They also expressed challenges in teaching due to the lack of materials, physical facilities, and time. Local differences impacted the implementation of the NC negatively in rural contexts. The intensity of the NC made instructional activities and the assessment processes difficult to implement in multi-grade and crowded classrooms. Participants did not feel efficient enough to implement the NC since they lacked adequate training and support. While teachers adopted the ideas that the NC brought, they adapted these practices to their existing practices. They reported performing a combination of NC practices and previous practices. Participants claimed that content of Ministry support should be more practice oriented, the curriculum materials should be sufficient in number, and the duration of mathematics lesson should be increased.

The problem of this study was predicting teachers' job satisfaction and performance based upon selected factors in personal background and organizational properties of their school. The purposes of this study were to determine (1) whether seven organizational properties of a teacher's work environment were important in predicting five job satisfactions and job performance, (2) whether the five job satisfactions were important in predicting teacher job performance, and (3) whether there were significant differences in five job satisfaction scores and in performance rating between teachers grouped by fifteen independent variables. This study concluded that the use of data collected on the seven organizational properties increased the prediction of job satisfaction and performance. The addition of the five job satisfactions and seven organizational properties increased the prediction of job performance. The specific independent variables that had the highest relationship on criteria mean scores were Teaching Field, Teaching in Area of Preparation, Expenditure per Student, and Campus Size for elementary teachers. For secondary teachers the highest relationships were on Contract and Salary.

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Analysis is typically listed in taxonomies of higher order thinking. Academics consider these taxonomies worthwhile, but they are hard to teach and we are apt to ignore them. Today higher education is criticized for “dumbing down” curriculum or lowering standards. To rectify this, many policies at the state or national level are requiring higher education institutions to change. In K-12 education, Race to the Top and Common Core requirements are placing new demands on K-12 teacher preparation, which include evaluation of the analysis skills of pre-service teachers. But professors do not always view their disciplines as the proper place for teaching analytical skills. Others become frustrated when trying to teach analysis. But if we do not teach these skills, our teacher candidates will be poorly prepared for success, a problem which will cascade throughout our society, rendering our citizens less educated. In this paper, we describe our efforts to teach analysis in two courses from widely differing subject areas, literacy and mathematics education. We are now requiring teacher candidates to analyze simulated or actual samples of student work. We have developed a sequenced process of analysis education that we believe can be generalized to many other courses

In 2010, the state of Tennessee embraced the call to overhaul teacher education and required programs to adopt a residency model within K-12 schools. How exactly this would affect the various methods courses in a teacher education program? This paper provides a description of how two elementary education methods courses have shifted from simulation-style projects to projects that involve working with actual elementary students throughout the semester. This article presents an overview of the new residency style methods courses, along with how major assignments shifted to utilize the extensive time pre-service teachers would spend in the elementary school classroom.

School-based professional learning communities (PLCs) have become an important means of “building capacity” among teachers in a wide variety of areas, including those with a subject focus. Very often, these PLCs are mandated by administration, and operate under an established structure. This paper describes an attempt by a mathematics coordinator and school level “lead’ teachers to establish relatively informal PLCs in mathematics in an effort to improve mathematics teaching, and thus student learning, in an environment that focused very much on literacy. The four PLCs created are discussed, as are the opportunities and the challenges that go with the relative freedom offered to the teachers. Sustainability is a central challenge to these groups.