Connections Identified by Teacher Educators Between the Mathematics They Teach and the Mathematics Their Students Will Teach in the Future

Cristina Ochoviet,Guillermo De Los Ángeles,Verónica Molfino

doi:10.29333/iejme/11472

Abstract

The relationship between the mathematics taught in teacher training and the mathematics demanded in teaching practices is an issue that has been problematized for many years in the field of Mathematics Education. Nonetheless, recent studies show it is still a focus of interest in the field. In this study, we have identified different connections that teacher educators are able to establish between the mathematics they teach and that which their students, prospective mathematics teachers, will have to teach eventually. We have conducted an in-depth case study and have identified that teacher educators establish content connections, modeled instruction connections, and disciplinary practice connections. Furthermore, we have reported the main difficulties that arise in establishing these connections. Additionally, we have identified a new type of connection, which we call professional practice connections.

Highlights

We have focused on a singular aspect of mathematics teacher training: the difficulty prospective teachers face in establishing connections between the mathematics learned in teacher education programs and that which is required to be taught in secondary school
Based on the literature review carried out, we consider this work will shed light on an original question: which mathematical connections do teacher educators establish in an initial mathematics teacher training program? We have focused on mathematical connections, though taking into consideration that other types of connections could appear
Most of the teacher educators interviewed recognize that, in the training of mathematics teachers, there is a lack of connection between the advanced mathematics that is taught in the career and that which the students, prospective teachers, will have to teach in their classes

Summary

Introduction

We have focused on a singular aspect of mathematics teacher training: the difficulty prospective teachers face in establishing connections between the mathematics learned in teacher education programs and that which is required to be taught in secondary school. He forgot these things quickly and thoroughly When, after finishing his course of study, he became a teacher, he suddenly found himself expected to teach the traditional elementary mathematics in the old pedantic way; and, since he was scarcely able, unaided, to discern any connection between this task and his university mathematics, he soon fell in with the time honoured way of teaching, and his university studies remained only a more or less pleasant memory which had no influence upon his teaching. Leikin et al (2018) conducted a study with mathematics teachers from teacher training courses at Israeli universities In this study, they make a reference to the CBMS report (2001), in which it is recommended to redesign mathematics courses for future teachers in order to help them make connections between the contents they study at college-level and the mathematical contents they will have to teach in secondary education. They conclude that there is a need for a stronger impact of school-level contents on university mathematics, and that its development must begin in mathematics courses

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