January 1999, Vol. 30, Issue 1
Elementary Preservice Teachers' Changing Beliefs and Instructional Use of Children's Mathematical Thinking
Nancy Nesbitt Vacc, George W. Bright
In this research, we examined changes in preservice elementary school teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics and their abilities to provide mathematics instruction that was based on children's thinking. The 34 participants in this study were introduced to Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) as part of a mathematics methods course. Belief-scale scores indicated that significant changes in their beliefs and perceptions about mathematics instruction occurred across the 2-year sequence of professional course work and student teaching during their undergraduate program but that their use of knowledge of children's mathematical thinking during instructional planning and teaching was limited. Preservice teachers may acknowledge the tenets of CGI and yet be unable to use them in their teaching. The results raise several questions about factors that may influence success in planning instruction on the basis of children's thinking.
This article is available to members of NCTM who subscribe to
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Don't miss out—join now or upgrade your membership. You may also purchase this article now for online access.
Log In/Create Account
Purchase Article