The study investigated the impact of Thai preservice middle school
mathematics teachers' knowledge of subject matter and of students' conceptions of
division of rational numbers with respect to their classroom practices in a teaching
environment controlled by a required national curriculum. Four preservice teachers
were selected with different knowledge of subject matter and of students'
conceptions of division of rational numbers: high knowledge of subject matter and
high knowledge of students' conceptions, high knowledge of subject matter and
low knowledge of students' conceptions, low knowledge of subject matter and high
knowledge of students' conceptions, and low knowledge of subject matter and low
knowledge of students' conceptions.
Each preservice teacher was observed three weeks, each class day during
the teaching of units on division of decimals, representing fractions as decimals,
and division of fractions. Formal interviews were conducted with each of the four
preservice teachers prior to and after teaching each unit. Informal interviews were
conducted prior to and after teaching each lesson. Materials used in the normal
teaching of the class were collected. Interviews with the preservice teachers'
mentors were conducted before and after each unit. The mentors were interviewed
daily before or after the instruction. Interviews with supervisors were conducted
each time they supervised the preservice teachers.
Results showed that all preservice teachers planned and taught division of
rational numbers procedurally following an algorithmically-based national
curriculum. The preservice teachers with higher subject matter knowledge used
multiple examples. They could make up examples when the students asked
questions. In contrast, the lower subject matter knowledge preservice teachers
rarely created new examples while they were teaching. The high knowledge of
students' conceptions preservice teachers used their knowledge of students'
conceptions throughout the lessons more often than the low knowledge of students'
conceptions preservice teachers. After teaching the lessons, they all gained
knowledge of subject matter and of students' conceptions of division of rational
numbers. The depth of knowledge of subject matter and of students' conceptions of
division of rational numbers is as essential for preservice middle school
mathematics teachers' teaching in a nonvoluntary curriculum as it is in a voluntary
curriculum. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/31811 |
| Date | 03 June 2002 |
| Creators | Singmuang, Charuwan |
| Contributors | Niess, Margaret L. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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