PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2012
Portland, Oregon
A Case of Bridging Communities: Mathematicians and Preservice ElementaryTeachers
Page: 2-472
This report focuses on an ongoing project that is developing a calculus course required for all preservice elementary teachers at a large southeastern university. In the process of designing and implementing the new materials, several research-based tasks have been developed, tested and refined. We discuss the results of the implementation and the refined tasks. We specifically focus on the task developed for the introduction and development of students’ limit understanding. Preliminary results indicate that students in our classes have difficulty thinking about the big ideas of the calculus, including limit, and that participation in these tasks, although difficult, is providing a venue for preservice elementary teachers to think more like mathematicians and come to view mathematics as more than a set of procedures to be followed. We hypothesize this experience will provide students with a stronger foundation as they begin their careers as elementary educators.