Abstract
This paper aimed to discuss the meanings, dimensions, and categories of teacher beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics. I reviewed the relevant literature about teacher beliefs in general, beliefs about mathematics, and beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning in particular. Based on the review of the literature, I outlined the meanings of teacher beliefs and conceptualized three dimensions of teacher beliefs – affective dimension, cognitive dimension, and pedagogical dimension. Then, I discussed three viewpoints to observe teacher beliefs – relational, institutional, and praxis lenses. I utilized these lenses to categorize belief constructs into three classes of beliefs about mathematics, teaching mathematics, and learning mathematics. These classes’ included-instrumentalist, constructivist, and integral beliefs. I addressed the pedagogical implications of these categorical beliefs in the end.
Highlights
In this article, first, I present the different meanings of belief
The abstract nature of algebra and calculus are related to negative beliefs, and other relatively lesser abstract areas of mathematics are related to positive beliefs
Mathematics teacher beliefs may have a significant implication in the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom
Summary
First, I present the different meanings of belief. I discuss three lenses to view teacher beliefs about mathematics and pedagogy of mathematics. I reconceptualize teacher beliefs about mathematics and pedagogy in terms of traditional, constructivist, and integral beliefs from the literature. I conclude it with some implications of these belief categories. This paper is drawn upon my doctoral dissertation (Belbase, 2015) for the ideas discussed
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