Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency
Mathematical competence of teachers continues to be an issue of great interest to mathematics educators within tertiary institutions and it is often thought of simultaneously with the notion of mathematics anxiety. While there has been considerable recent research into the latter, no clear conclusio...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Scientific Research Publishing Inc
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19191 |
| _version_ | 1848749962110697472 |
|---|---|
| author | Hurst, Chris Cooke, Audrey |
| author_facet | Hurst, Chris Cooke, Audrey |
| author_sort | Hurst, Chris |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Mathematical competence of teachers continues to be an issue of great interest to mathematics educators within tertiary institutions and it is often thought of simultaneously with the notion of mathematics anxiety. While there has been considerable recent research into the latter, no clear conclusions have been able to be drawn about many aspects of the phenomenon and how it is linked to mathematical competence. Most recently, international studies have highlighted notable differences in the standards of teacher preparation in different countries and in Australia new standards for accreditation of teacher education programs have been drafted. This paper reports on a part of on-going research into mathematics anxiety and competence of pre-service teachers. It uses two small samples of pre-service teachers from different cohorts of a Bachelor of Education course and attempts to identify factors that may help develop positive attitudes towards mathematics as they seek to develop their competency in mathematics. In addition, as a response to greater reported levels of anxiety regarding cognitive and knowledge traits, the paper identifies targeted professional learning and social constructivist teaching as key factors as well as the need to identify personal knowledge of mathematics as a prelude to seeking to become more competent. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:29:16Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-19191 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:29:16Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Scientific Research Publishing Inc |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-191912017-09-13T15:43:55Z Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency Hurst, Chris Cooke, Audrey Competency Attitudes Pre-Service Teacher Mathematics Education Mathematical competence of teachers continues to be an issue of great interest to mathematics educators within tertiary institutions and it is often thought of simultaneously with the notion of mathematics anxiety. While there has been considerable recent research into the latter, no clear conclusions have been able to be drawn about many aspects of the phenomenon and how it is linked to mathematical competence. Most recently, international studies have highlighted notable differences in the standards of teacher preparation in different countries and in Australia new standards for accreditation of teacher education programs have been drafted. This paper reports on a part of on-going research into mathematics anxiety and competence of pre-service teachers. It uses two small samples of pre-service teachers from different cohorts of a Bachelor of Education course and attempts to identify factors that may help develop positive attitudes towards mathematics as they seek to develop their competency in mathematics. In addition, as a response to greater reported levels of anxiety regarding cognitive and knowledge traits, the paper identifies targeted professional learning and social constructivist teaching as key factors as well as the need to identify personal knowledge of mathematics as a prelude to seeking to become more competent. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19191 10.4236/jss.2014.24022 Scientific Research Publishing Inc fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Competency Attitudes Pre-Service Teacher Mathematics Education Hurst, Chris Cooke, Audrey Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency |
| title | Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency |
| title_full | Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency |
| title_fullStr | Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency |
| title_short | Seeking a Balance: Helping Pre-Service Teachers Develop Positive Attitudes towards Mathematics as They Develop Competency |
| title_sort | seeking a balance: helping pre-service teachers develop positive attitudes towards mathematics as they develop competency |
| topic | Competency Attitudes Pre-Service Teacher Mathematics Education |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19191 |