Preschool Teachers' Early Mathematics Professional Learning Within an Alternative Licensure Program

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Coaching, Professional Learning, and Early Childhood Teacher Preparation (Table 2)

Abstract

This mixed methods sequential explanatory study examined early childhood teachers’ early math professional learning within a STEM course in an early childhood education alternative licensure program (ALP). Early math attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge were evaluated at pre- and post-course timepoints. Video recordings at pre- and post-course timepoints analyzed math language and teacher-child interactions associated with best practice math instruction. Teacher interviews gathered data to triangulate and explain quantitative findings and to understand how teachers’ early math perceptions and practice shifted across the course and in continuation past the course. Early math attitudes, knowledge, and instructional practice significantly changed across the course. Teachers reported specific course components that affected these perception and practice shifts.

Author

• David Banzer, University of Illinois at Chicago