The development of teaching concepts of teacher education students in a field-based and a university-based elementary mathematics methods course

Abstract

One of the main reform efforts in teacher education today is to link universities and public schools in an attempt to link theory with practice. Growing out of this reform effort is the encouragement for the establishment of Professional Development Schools (PDS). The Holmes Group (1990) suggested that university education courses will be strengthened by making connections to good practice and problems of schooling through experiences at a PDS. The purpose of this study was to compare a field-based mathematics methods course to a traditional university-based mathematics methods course through examination of the two course's effects upon teacher education students' development of teaching concepts in elementary mathematics. The collection of data occurred in three phases. In phase one, students in both groups completed a biographical data sheet and a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the semester to determine beliefs about mathematics teaching. In addition, the instructors provided course syllabi and were interviewed at the beginning and end of semester. As part of phase two, three students from each group were interviewed at the beginning and end of the semester. These students also provided written observation reactions and narrative lesson plans. One student was selected from each group in phase two to participate in phase three. This phase of the study is classified as mini-case studies of these two students. Overall, a conclusion that can be made according to the results throughout this study is that the classroom teacher has a significant influence on teacher education students involved in field-based courses. Recommendations from this study include, (1) university personnel and classroom teachers need to develop effective collaboration, (2) field-based programs need to be less restrictive in the mathematical topics they cover, (3) university-based programs need to provide more time for reflection, and (4) effective strategies need to be used to help teacher education students make connections from what they learn in methods courses to what is happening in the classroom.