Art as Metaphor: A Tool for Expressing Preservice Educators' Identities as Learners and Teachers of Mathematics

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: New Visions for Qualitative Educational Research

Abstract

Elliot Eisner’s conceptions of connoisseurship and criticism (1976) invite educators and those preparing educators to develop an awareness and appreciation of the complexity of teaching and learning. Fifty years later, teachers are still largely measured with quantitative tools that focus on theoretical and content knowledge. What is lacking are tools created to utilize qualitative intelligence (1963). In this study, an arts-based research mode of inquiry explored the use of art as metaphor to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of themselves as learners and teachers of mathematics. Analysis shows that the tool of art as metaphor elicited representational thoughts that used art as a steppingstone into a revelation of feelings, positive and negative, about mathematics learning and teaching.

Authors

• Amy Willerson, University of North Texas

• Jeanne L. Tunks, University of North Texas

• Eman AlMuraie, King Saud University