PROCEEDINGS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2013
Denver, Colorado
Using Disciplinary Practices to Organize Instruction of Mathematics Courses for Prospective Teachers
Page: 2-166
One challenge of teaching content courses for prospective teachers is organizing instruction in ways that represent the discipline with integrity while serving the needs of future teachers—for example, choosing math problems that provide a logical development of a topic while also addressing mathematical knowledge for teaching. This paper examines the work entailed in structuring in-class work in mathematics courses for teachers. It argues that practices of teaching that are mathematical—such as representing ideas, grounding reasoning in mathematical observations available to the class, using definitions, or using mathematical language—can be used to negotiate mathematical and pedagogical aims, and therefore can be used to organize instruction of mathematical knowledge for teaching while simultaneously developing a disciplinary understanding.