Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Mathematics and Statistics
First Advisor
Eva Thanheiser
Term of Graduation
Summer 2023
Date of Publication
7-11-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Mathematics Education
Department
Mathematics and Statistics
Language
English
Subjects
Authority, Mathematics teachers -- Training of, Mathematics -- Study and teaching
DOI
10.15760/etd.3653
Physical Description
1 online resource (vii, 165 pages)
Abstract
Mathematics teacher educators enact inquiry-based preparatory courses with the underlying expectation that their students (prospective teachers) will take ownership (authority) of their mathematical learning through sharing their ideas and collaboratively discussing the reasonableness of their shared ideas. Yet, prospective teachers' expectations are often not yet in alignment with those of mathematics teacher educators, instead they enter these courses expecting their instructors to provide clear examples and directions for how to solve mathematics problems. This project investigates this dynamic through an authority lens, seeking to understand and characterize different views of authority prospective teachers hold and the impact these views have on their learning experiences and on their development of an internal source of authority. Understanding this dynamic is crucial in courses designed to prepare prospective teachers to teach mathematics, as their experiences in preparatory mathematics content courses have the potential to shape their future practice. Through an analysis of survey responses and interview transcripts I synthesized how participants, in their own words, described their understanding of authority in mathematics classrooms, how their descriptions of their experiences in learning to justify indicated a range of views of authority, and how a course design utilizing shared interactive slides facilitated prospective teachers' understanding of their authority to reason about mathematics. These syntheses inform mathematics teacher educators' practice as they, together with their students (prospective teachers), interrogate norms of how authority operates in mathematics education.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40836
Recommended Citation
Rosencrans, Brenda Lynn, "In Their Words: Prospective Teachers' Experiences as a Context for Investigating Their Views of Authority in a Mathematics Classroom" (2023). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6517.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.3653
Included in
Science and Mathematics Education Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons