Toward a Thinking-Oriented Training in Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers

Abstract

The need to improve mathematical training for elementary school teachers has long been recognized. Efforts to make the needed improvement over the years have brought some changes from time to time; yet providing elementary teachers with solid mathematical training remains a big challenge. In this chapter, we first conduct a review of relevant research about the difficulties elementary teachers may have in mathematics and existing approaches to provide mathematical training to them. Building upon existing research, we propose a thinking-oriented training in mathematics for elementary teachers based on problem-solving and problem posing, which can and should be integrated with their knowledge learning, and that emphasizes sensemaking and making sense, as well as skill and ability development. They should also have opportunities to learn how to develop instructional practices that build upon students’ knowledge and mathematical thinking and utilize contextualized problem-solving.