Noticing Preservice Teachers' Conceptions of Equitable Mathematics Teaching

• In Event: 14.042 - Teacher Noticing for Equitable Teaching Practices in Mathematics

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze pre-service teachers’ conceptions of equitable teaching before and after a mathematics methods course that deliberately attended to equity and equitable teaching. This paper seeks to investigate the ways in which pre-service teachers define equity and equitable teaching before and after this course by exploring responses to survey questions with an analytical framework based on existing noticing frameworks.
Context and Theoretical Background: Students in American public schools are becoming increasingly diverse with more students representing different cultures and ethnicities and who speak languages other than English. Additionally, because of structural inequities in our society and within the American public school system, many of these students also live in poverty and have limited opportunities to learn ambitious and rigorous mathematics content or develop the mathematical practices needed for proficiency (NCTM, 2014). As the teaching force is primarily composed of white, middle class women (Feistritzer, 2011; Zumwalt & Craig, 2005), and because research suggests that many pre-service teachers have deficit perceptions of students of color (Sleeter, 2008), teacher preparation is critical for interrupting and challenging these limiting beliefs. It is vital for teacher preparation programs to help new teachers develop productive beliefs and ability oriented conceptions of equity and to deliberately create opportunities for new teachers to develop strategies for enacting equitable teaching (Author, 2013).
Data and Methods: The data for this study is drawn from survey responses. Pre-service teachers were given a pre- and post-survey which asked them to write a definition of equity and equitable teaching and then describe three ways in which they would teach in equitable ways during student teaching. The survey was administered before the first day and on the last day of the methods class. The pre-survey and post-survey were identical in order to track on the pre-service teachers’ difference in understandings before and after the course. Responses to the first two prompts are coded and analyzed, and the third question as a form of triangulation (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014).
Analysis and Results: An analytical framework leveraging noticing methodologies was created to evaluate differences in their responses before and after taking the methods course (Author, 2011). Results reveal substantive differences in the quality of pre-service teachers’ thinking and understanding of equity and equitable teaching. These responses vary along levels of sophistication and depth as a reflection of the presence or absence of deep understanding of equity and equitable teaching. For example, responses coded as sophisticated provide evidence of a deep understanding about the complexities of issues of equity that arise in classrooms and of knowledge of teaching strategies that deliberately create access to the content for diverse learners.
Significance: Findings of this study can help us better understand the ideas about equitable teaching teachers hold and how these ideas can be influenced in methods classes. Results can inform teacher preparation programs as more programs work to create deliberate opportunities to learn about equitable teaching in mathematics.

Author

• Imani Masters Goffney, University of Maryland - College Park