Cultivating unfamiliar terrains: A study of a pre-service elementary mathematics methods course designed for adaptation.

摘要

This study investigates one attempt to prepare prospective elementary teachers to teach mathematics differently from the ways in which they were taught. Based on a theoretical approach articulated by Joseph Schwab (1959/1978), an elementary mathematics methods course was designed to provide pre-service teachers with an educational context that embodied the unfamiliar forms of teaching, learning and knowing they were to learn in the class---in Schwab's terms, a context was designed where the new is presented mainly in its new terms (p.172). The course design was deliberate about the types of work and ways of working encouraged, the tasks and problems used, the tools and material means provided, and the social-intellectual structures supported. These were purposefully targeted to produce a class context where new habits and expectations for mathematical work would be fostered and in which different kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing mathematics would prove valuable.;This study looks at what and how changes were initiated in the course: What might it mean to create an educational context for pre-service teachers where "the new is presented mainly in its new terms"? What might be involved in creating such a context? This dissertation also examines the processes by which change occurred over the semester as prospective teachers adapted to---and adapted---the context in which they found themselves. In essence, this study is a test of the theory articulated by Schwab, examining not only whether or not the theory holds in the given case but also to elaborate upon the theory as it is applied to an elementary mathematics methods course.;This study contributes to a better understanding of such efforts in mathematics teacher education to create and use educational contexts to communicate new forms of knowing and learning to prospective teachers.