Enhancing Teacher Education in Primary Mathematics with Mobile Technologies

Abstract

A challenge of teacher education is to produce graduate primary school teachers who are confident and competent teachers of mathematics. Various approaches to primary school teacher education in mathematics have been investigated, but primary teacher education graduates still tend to be diffident in their teaching of mathematics. In an age where personal use of mobile technologies is becoming ubiquitous, such technologies could provide a conduit into making mathematics teaching and learning more accessible to primary teacher education students. This paper introduces the use of a pedagogical framework which can scaffold mobile learning in mathematics teacher education programs. The paper discusses ways in which this framework, the Mobile Pedagogical Framework, can contribute to enhanced primary teacher education in mathematics, using mobile technologies. The Framework has three major dimensions: authenticity, collaboration and personalisation. Each of these will be discussed in terms of their alignment with current ideas about quality teaching in mathematics.