Abstract
This article contrasts four elementary teachers who were graduates of a teacher education program that incorporated a reform-based mathematics methods course. The report provides results from a four-year longitudinal study that extended from the time that the participants were preservice teachers until the end of their second year of teaching. The article provides background information of each teacher, vignettes from her teaching, excerpts from interviews, and an analysis of each teacher's case. Results from the case studies indicate that two of the four teachers sustained their cognitively-based conceptions about mathematics teaching and learning, and implemented these conceptions into practice. The analysis suggests that there were several factors that influenced the teachers' conceptions and the choices they made in their teaching: personal commitment, professional strength, curriculum, planning, assessment, beliefs, knowledge, and support from school administration. The article concludes with implications for teaching and questions about the nature of what might be required in the beginning years of teaching if new teachers are expected to implement reform-based mathematics teaching practices.
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Steele, D.F. The Interfacing of Preservice and Inservice Experiences of Reform-Based Teaching: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education 4, 139–172 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011436116480
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011436116480