With enormous thanks to Anita Campbell for taking these notes.

Blogging from The Tenth Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics

Dilshara Hill from Macquarie University.

Investigating how past experiences in mathematics have influenced pre-service primary teachers

Dilshara Hill, Macquarie University

Pre-service Primary Teachers

Characteristics observed:

Maths anxiety, more so than other maths students.

Aim to see if and how past experiences have influenced them, also their attitudes and past level of mathematics.

Literature

Cobb(1986) beliefs are related to social experiences, such as in classrooms.

(others)

Data collected

  • Personal info
  • Attitudes
  • Past experiences

87% females, 71% 18 – 25 yrs old.

Maths level:

  • No yr 12 maths (22%)
  • Non-calculus based course (51%)
  • Calculus-based course (17%)

(Typical of previous years too.)

Circle the words from 6 positive, 6 negative works, could add own

More negative (40%) than positive words (30%). 28% had both positive and negative experiences.

Asked about positive or negative experiences

48% only positive

25% only negative

9% neutral / no response

(rest had both positive and negative experiences)

8 positive and 10 negative types of experiences

Top positive experiences

  • Good marks
  • Good teacher (90% said teacher contributed to negative experience)

Top negative experiences

  • Teacher (94% said teacher contributed to negative experience)
  • Not understanding work

Found a relationship between past experiences and attitudes

People with

Found a significant relationship between past experiences and attitudes

82% who had positive experiences did maths to year 12

95% who had positive experiences did maths to year 12

Discussion

  1. Teachers have a huge influence on their students.
  2. Implications for educators:
  3. Are educators sufficiently aware of how much impact they could have on their students?
  4. Do they set reasonable goals to give students opportunities for success?
  5. Addressing negative attitudes of pre-service primary teachers
  6. Mathematics in today’s society

Is there an assumption that mathematics is not valued or desires in primary education? Good students are not expected to go into primary education.

  1. Prerequisite mathematical knowledge. Should year 12 Maths be a pre-requisite for primary school teachers? Yes, says Dilshara.
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