Session Information
24 SES 09, Issues in Mathematics Teacher Education II
Paper Session
Contribution
Decreasing trend in student achievement in mathematics subject is a common problem in many countries around the world. Comparative studies show that student achievement in mathematics subject in western countries is very low in comparison to countries like Japan and the Republic of Korea (Boe & Shin, 2005). A similar difference is observed between the children from high SES and low SES families. Furthermore, mathematics achievement differences between groups increases in the further years of schooling (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Young-Loveridge, Peters, & Carr, 1998). Discrepancies among the mathematical student achievement is believed to lie in the level of importance given in the early childhood education, thus, starting the mathematical education in kindergarten level may help closing this achievement gap (Gervasoni, 2003).
Since pre-school education is usually dominated by the ideas of holism, integrated curriculum, and play, mathematics education was often neglected, hence, the research background of mathematics teaching in early childhood education is quite shallow (Hedges & Cullen, 2005). Opposite to the general belief that children can learn to start learning mathematics in primary school, existing research evidence shows that young children are more competent on mathematics than they were thought before (Ginsburg & Amit, 2008). Existing research evidence shows that starting the mathematics education in early childhood level is especially helpful for children from low income families and many school districts in the U.S. have started to implement early mathematics education in their programs (Ginsburg, Lee and Boyd, 2008).
Pedagogical content knowledge is constituted by combination of three fields of knowledge; subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and context knowledge (Hill, Loewenberg-Ball, & Schilling, 2008). Similar to relationship between student learning and student subject matter knowledge, a relationship exists between teachers’ content knowledge and student learning, hence subject matter knowledge is important to support students in their learning process in early childhood mathematics teaching (Haynes, 2000; Peters, 2001). Along with the subject matter knowledge, it is important to know instructional methods and strategies that can be used with the subject matter that is being taught to the students (Geddis, 1993). Studies examining teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and student performances indicate that teachers equipped with appropriate teaching methods with specific content areas improve student achievement (Darling-Hammond, Berry, & Thoreson, 2001). Finally, teachers’ knowledge on students’ mathematical thinking and how students acquire mathematical content has its own importance, however no research demonstrated the relationship between teachers’ this knowledge and student performance in any subject area let alone early childhood education (Hill, Loewenberg-Ball, & Schilling, 2008). Studying the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers in all subjects is important to develop appropriate teacher education and professional development programs, teaching mathematics in early childhood education is no exception.
The purpose of this research is to explore and compare pre-service and in-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics teaching to young children in Turkey. The results of the study will provide valuable information for designing undergraduate and professional development courses on teaching mathematics to young children in early childhood education.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Boe, E.E. and Shin, S. (2005). Is the United States really losing the international horse race in academic achievement? Phi Delta Kappan, 86(9), pp 688-695. Darling-Hammond, L. (2000). Teacher quality and student achievement: A review of state policy evidence. Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 8(1). Darling-Hammond, L., Berry, B., & Thoreson, A. (2001). Does Teacher Certification Matter? Evaluating the Evidence. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(1), 57. Geddis, A. N. (1993). Transforming Content Knowledge: Learning to Teach about Isotopes. Science Education, 77, 575-591. Gervasoni, A. (2003). Key transitions in counting development for young children who experience difficulty. In N. Pateman, B. Dougherty, & J. Zilliox (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2003 joint meeting of PME and PMENA (Vol. 2, pp. 421– 427). Hawaii: PME. Ginsburg, H.P. and Amit, M. (2008). What is teaching mathematics to young children? A theoretical perspective and case study. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 274-285. Ginsburg, H. P., Lee, J. S., & Boyd, J. S. (2008). Mathematics education for young children: What it is and how to promote it. Social Policy Report— Giving Child and Youth Development Knowledge Away, 22(1), 1−24. Haynes, M. (2000). Teacher education for early childhood through the New Zealand Curriculum Framework. . New Zealand Research in Early Childhood Education, 3, 163-176. Hedges, H. and Cullen, J. (2005). Meaningful teaching and learning: Children’s and teachers’ content knowledge. Retrieved July 1, 2009 from http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/education/shared/about/research/docs/FOED%20Papers/Issue%2016/ACE_Paper_1_Issue_16.doc Hill, H. C., Loewenberg-Ball, D., & Schilling, S. G. (2008). Unpacking Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Conceptualizing and Measuring Teachers' Topic-Specific Knowledge of Students. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39(4), 373-400. Young-Loveridge, J., Peters, S., & Carr, M. (1998). Enhancing the mathematics of four year-olds: An overview of the EMI-4s study. Journal of Australian Research in Early Childhood Education, 1, 82–93.
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