The Curriculum Resources and Perceived Challenges of First- and Second-Year Upper Elementary Mathematics Teachers

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Affective and Curricular Aspects of Mathematics Teacher Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand, across two years, the type of curriculum resources as well as the challenges regarding mathematics curricula that 10 beginning upper elementary mathematics utilized and perceived in their first two years of teaching. All of the selected beginning teachers were teaching in Virginia. Extensive qualitative semi-structured interview data were collected and analyzed to determine the study’s findings. Findings suggest that mathematics curriculum resources, provided by schools and school districts, were believed to support, rather than inhibit, the beginning upper elementary mathematics teachers in their designing of mathematics curricula. The source of these curriculum resources (school-provided versus online), however, mattered along with the year (first or second) in which they were utilizing them.

Authors

• Tyler Douglas Woodward, University of Virginia

• Peter A. Youngs, University of Virginia