Elementary pre-service teachers working in mathematical borders

Abstract

Using the border metaphor to portray the common separation between school mathematics and students’ everyday lives, this manuscript describes the processes that a group of elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) have experienced to learn about their students and bridge these borders. Content analysis of mathematical activities and PSTs' reflections developed in a mathematics teaching methods course reveals that although they asserted that the process of developing bridges between mathematics and everyday experiences has transformed their self-concept and confidence in mathematics and teaching, they mostly use their own knowledge and experience to develop these tasks rather than from their students’. Possibilities to generate more genuine ethnomathematical approaches are discussed.