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How Do I Know I Learned Something? Reflecting on Learning by Using Video-Recorded Interviews to Battle Hindsight (“I-Knew-It-All-Along”) Bias

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Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction

Part of the book series: Advances in STEM Education ((ASTEME))

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Abstract

Prospective elementary school teachers (PTs), at the completion of their mathematics content course, often feel that (1) they did not learn anything new in the course, (2) they “knew it all along,” and (3) they just needed a refresher. Thus, PTs often undervalue both their own learning in the mathematics content course and the complexity of the elementary mathematics content they learned. In this study, I replicate prior work in which I found that conducting a videotaped interview with PTs at the beginning of the course can help them recognize, before taking the course, that they have mathematics content to learn. I also extend that work by having PTs view their videotaped interviews at the end of the course. I argue that reviewing of the interview and thus remembering what they did not know before the course can help PTs recognize, after they have taken the course, that they have learned content. This remembering led the PTs not only to appreciate the content they learned but also to be aware of the complexity of elementary mathematics, an essential aspect of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Krista Strand and Briana Mills who accompanied me through the beginnings of this work and Jodi Fasteen who tirelessly coded this data with me.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Eva Thanheiser

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  1. Eva Thanheiser
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Correspondence to Eva Thanheiser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teaching, Learning & Culture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Yeping Li

  2. Department of Teaching, Learning & Culture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Roger E. Howe

  3. Department of Mathematics, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    W. James Lewis

  4. Department of Mathematics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    James J. Madden

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Thanheiser, E. (2021). How Do I Know I Learned Something? Reflecting on Learning by Using Video-Recorded Interviews to Battle Hindsight (“I-Knew-It-All-Along”) Bias. In: Li, Y., Howe, R.E., Lewis, W.J., Madden, J.J. (eds) Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction. Advances in STEM Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68956-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68956-8_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68955-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68956-8

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