Seeking Utility: Exploring Secondary Mathematics Preservice Teachers' Experiences in General Education Courses

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Teachers' Beliefs, Views, and Perspectives (Table 7)

Abstract

This study examined the perspectives of secondary mathematics preservice teachers (PSTs) in general education (GE) courses. GE courses provide PSTs with foundational knowledge that transcends disciplines to support their development as educators. Data came from a series of semi-structured interviews with 26 PSTs enrolled in three teacher education programs in Canada. Findings suggest that PSTs prefer courses that make explicit connections to practice and their mathematics-specific context. Furthermore, instructors were seen to play an important role in connecting theory to practice, and serve as models of good instructional practices. This study highlights the need for teacher education programs to streamline GE courses to accommodate secondary mathematics PSTs’ subject-specific needs and design more meaningful theory-to-practice connections for PSTs’ pedagogical growth.

Authors

• Limin Jao, McGill University
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie Beck, McGill University
  Presenting Author

• Martin Ako, McGill University
  Presenting Author