The beliefs and attitudes of special educators: Mathematics, mathematics teaching, and mathematics learning.

摘要

The purpose of the study was to explore the beliefs and attitudes of special education teachers have about the discipline of mathematics, teaching mathematics, and learning mathematics. The study utilized a mixed method design that was conducted in two phases. Forty-eight in-service special education teachers participated in Phase One of the study, which consisted of quantitative data collection through surveys related to mathematics anxiety level and alignment of beliefs with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards. A sub-sample of seven teachers was purposefully selected to participate in Phase Two of the study, which consisted of a qualitative data collection through a semi-structured interview. Quantitative results indicated that the study sample had relatively low levels of mathematics anxiety and a relatively high degree of alignment with reform-based mathematics beliefs promoted by the NCTM. Qualitative results expanded upon the quantitative results of Phase One of the study and indicated that the beliefs of the sub-sample participants could be categorized according to beliefs common to general education mathematics teachers.