Supporting student teachers’ enactment of relational mathematics in the classroom: an Action Research study

ABSTRACT

The problem of enactment describes a teacher’s inability to translate effective theories of teaching into practice. This is common for student-teachers, and invariably results in instructional practices that are ineffective and inconsistent with their beliefs. The motivation for this study was based on the observation that student-teachers move away from practices linked to relational understanding of mathematics and regularly fail to enact their mathematical knowledge in the classroom, despite having proven competence in the area. Therefore, the objective was to understand the reasons for this failure and make subsequent changes in the designated module to address the problem of enactment. Action Research was chosen as the research design considering the changes into one’s practice and subsequently evaluating those changes. The current study represents Cycle 1 of a larger two-cycle Action Research study. Qualitative data were gathered from student-teachers using focus groups and classroom observations and analysed using Braun & Clarkes (2006) thematic analysis and the Mathematical Quality of Instruction framework, respectively. The findings indicated that the intervention was effective in addressing the problem of enactment, but further changes needed to be made in Cycle 2 to ensure it meets the needs of student-teachers and the pupils they teach.

KEYWORDS:

• Problem of enactment
• student-teachers
• relational mathematics understanding
• mathematical beliefs

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eddie Costello

Eddie Costello teaches mathematics to student teachers. His main research areas are student teachers mathematical knowledge, student teachers beliefs about mathematics and student teachers enactment of mathematical knowledge in the classroom. He holds Bachelor degrees in Mathematics, Computing and Education; a Master’s degree in Information Technology; and a Doctor of Education.

Zerrin Doğança Küçük

Zerrin Doğança Küçük is an assistant professor in the Education Department at The National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Besides environmental education and STEM education, her research interests are about initial teacher training and professional development of primary and secondary school teachers.