The Effects of the Timing, Duration, and Quality of Teaching Practice on K-6 Mathematics Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

This study explored the hypothesis that experience with children’s mathematical thinking facilitates the development of teachers’ professional knowledge. Multilevel models of a data set representative of US public institutions preparing K-6 teachers from the Teacher Education and Development Survey in Mathematics (Brese & Tatto, 2012) suggested that the timing of some teaching practice prior the last year of the preparation program (i.e., concurrent with or preceding some coursework) had a positive effect on prospective teachers’ content knowledge and was moderated by the length of teaching practice. Teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge was not associated with the timing or length of teaching practice. The findings corroborate prior experimental work at a single institution (Philip et al., 2007) and raise questions about how pedagogical content knowledge develops during teacher education.

Author

• Erik D. Jacobson, Indiana University - Bloomington