PROCEEDINGS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2013
Denver, Colorado
Pre-Service Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching and Conceptions of Teaching Effectiveness: Are They Related?
Page: 2-18
Mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) is essential for effective teaching of elementary mathematics. Given the importance of MKT, MKT and conceptions of teaching effectiveness should not develop independently. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how K-8 pre-service teachers’ MKT and personal mathematics teacher efficacy beliefs are related. Results indicated overconfidence in teaching ability was prevalent, with the majority of participants exhibiting a strong sense of personal mathematics teacher efficacy but low levels of MKT. Pre-service teachers with high levels of MKT, however, reported a more accurate assessment of their teaching effectiveness. Results also indicated that examining pre-service teachers’ self-evaluations of MKT is helpful for understanding pre-service teachers’ personal mathematics teacher efficacy beliefs. Moreover, the results of this study point to the inadequacies of existing measures of teacher efficacy beliefs that do not parse out differences in efficacy beliefs according to a number of contextual factors.