CAREER: Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics: The Impact of Mathematics Courses on Prospective Elementary Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed program of research focuses on the mathematics prospective elementary teachers have opportunities to learn during their undergraduate education and what they actually learn as a result of their mathematics courses. Although research has identified the problem of teacher knowledge as a significant contributing factor in the generally inadequate quality of K-6 mathematics education, more is known about what teachers do not know than about what they know or have had opportunities to learn. This study will look across institutions and states to examine what prospective teachers are being taught and what they are actually learning. The project will investigate both opportunities to learn and learning from undergraduate mathematics courses through a set of multi-method, multilevel case studies. The work will include an analysis of textbooks written for undergraduate mathematics courses for prospective elementary teachers; an examination of textbook topical coverage and how that correlates with states' mathematics student learning standards; surveys of mathematics departments and instructors of those courses in selected states; case studies of selected courses at institutions within the states; and pre- and post-assessments of student (preservice teacher) learning in those courses. The focal mathematical domains will be multiplication, fractions, and reasoning and proof. This research will contribute to understanding whether prospective elementary teachers are exposed to content that they need for successful teaching, and whether they are learning that content. The findings will include whether, and to what extent, instructors are teaching content that contributes to mathematical knowledge for teaching. This is new research in areas about which little is known, with important implications for teacher education. The proposer's education plan includes teaching undergraduate mathematics courses for elementary teachers at Michigan State University using two approaches currently supported by the Mathematics Department and using that teaching as a site for studying opportunity to learn and teacher knowledge. She will revise a course to introduce PhD students to theoretical and practical issues in assessing teacher knowledge and opportunities to learn.