PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2017
San Diego, California
Teachers’ beliefs & knowledge of the everyday value of high school algebra & geometry: Is one more useful than the other?
Page: 1201
Despite recent emphases on teaching that mathematics is useful, little is known about teachers’beliefs about the value of the topics they teach. While teachers have been found to believemathematics overall is worthwhile, it may be that this belief varies among subjects. This studyexamines the beliefs and knowledge of students enrolled in teacher preparatory courses byemploying a survey and algebra and geometry tasks related to each subject’s usefulness andconnection to real-world applications. Preliminary results show they value algebra abovegeometry in terms of future use by their students. However, while their confidence was equal intheir abilities to produce real-world applications, they were more successful producing thoserelated to geometry than algebra. Further survey and clinical interview data collection isplanned with additional pre-service and in-service teachers to examine beliefs and knowledgeexpert (in-service) teachers bring to teaching to inform the preparation of secondary schoolteachers.Key words: