Amanda Jansen

Preparing Teachers to Learn from Teaching

The authors propose a framework for teacher preparation programs that aims to help prospective teachers learn how to teach from studying teaching. The framework is motivated by their interest in defining a set of competencies that provide a deliberate, systematic path to becoming an effective teacher over time. The framework is composed of four skills, rooted in the daily activity of teaching, that when deployed deliberately and systematically, constitute a process of creating and testing hypotheses about cause-effect relationships between teaching and learning during classroom lessons. In spite of the challenges of acquiring these skills, the authors argue that the framework outlines a more realistic and more promising set of beginning teacher competencies than those of traditional programs designed to produce graduates with expert teaching strategies.

The Role of Learning Goals in Building a Knowledge Base for Elementary Mathematics Teacher Education

In this article, we describe features of learning goals that enable indexing knowledge for teacher education. Learning goals are the key enabler for building a knowledge base for teacher education; they define what counts as essential knowledge for prospective teachers. We argue that 2 characteristics of learning goals support knowledge‐building efforts. First, learning goals should be targeted; they must be sufficiently well specified to suggest interventions for supporting learners in achieving them and to indicate the types of evidence needed to determine if the goals have been achieved. Second, learning goals should be shared; they must be mutually understood and committed to by all participants in the knowledge‐building process. By drawing on our experience in our local efforts to develop knowledge for preparing prospective elementary mathematics teachers, we illustrate how targeted and shared learning goals support efforts to build a knowledge base for teacher education. We then propose the use of learning progressions for supporting knowledge‐building endeavors across sites.

Elementary Preservice Teachers' Transitional Conceptions of Partitive Division with Proper-Fraction Divisors.

ABSTRACT An understanding of partitive division is foundational for numerous other mathematics topics, including unit rate, slope, and probability. However, research has shown that learners tend to have a limited understanding of partitive division when the divisor is a proper fraction. To extend research on conceptions of partitive division in this study, we used Moschkovich’s (1999) transitional conceptions perspective to examine how conceptions of partitive division evolve. This article reports on preservice teachers’ (PSTs) conceptions of partitive division with proper-fraction divisors before and after they explored partitive division in a mathematics content course for elementary teachers (N = 17). Our analysis of pre- and post-interviews revealed an initial transitional conception and two levels of refinement of their conceptions. Furthermore, we identified two perturbations that PSTs experienced during refinement of their conceptions. By identifying ordered levels of refinement and associated perturbations, this exploratory study extends the transitional conceptions perspective. Furthermore, this study adds new insights into the conceptual complexities that the partitive model for division of fractions presents to PSTs (and to learners in general) and suggests new hypotheses about ways that conceptions of partitive division undergo refinement.

Attitudes, Beliefs, Motivation, and Identity in Mathematics Education

Research on mathematics-related affect is varied in theories and concepts. Here, we record the state-of-art in this research through short sections from leading experts in different areas. We describe the historical development of the concept of attitude and different ways it is defined. Research on students’ self-efficacy beliefs in mathematics is summarized. There is reflection on the dialectic relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practice as well as on how their beliefs change. One section records the emerging research on students’ and teachers’ mathematical identities over the last two decades. Finally, mathematical motivation is elaborated from the perspectives of engagement structures, social behaviors, and the relationship between individual factors and social norms.