Relationship Between Science and Mathematics Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Elementary Teachers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in teacher efficacy beliefs about mathematics and science teaching during participation in methods courses and student teaching, as well as the relationship between mathematics and science teaching efficacy. Data revealed that, as science and mathematics teacher education in a methods course progressed, science and mathematics teaching efficacy significantly increased. This effect appeared to decrease slightly by the end of student teaching. Analysis of data indicated a significant difference in both the personal mathematics and personal science teaching efficacy scores, as well as mathematics outcome expectancy. Additionally, preservice teachers' personal mathematics and science teaching efficacies were directly related, as were their mathematics and science teaching outcome expectancies.     

Relationships Between the Process Standards: Process Elicited Through Letter Writing Between Preservice Teachers and High School Mathematics Students

The current body of literature suggests an interactive relationship between several of the process standards advocated by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Verbal and written mathematical communication has often been described as an alternative to typical mathematical representations (e.g., charts and graphs). Therefore, the relationship between these two processes has been characterized as interchangeable. The current study examined mathematics preservice teachers’ elicitation of the process standards from high school students during a letter‐writing project. Correlational analysis illustrated two sets of relationships: one between communication, problem solving, and reasoning and proof; and a weaker, parallel relationship between representation, problem solving, and reasoning and proof. Additionally, it was found that written communication and representation were elicited in isolation of each other significantly more often than in conjunction, supporting claims of the literature. Implications of these findings and suggestions of future research are described.     

Stepping into iSMART: Understanding Science–Mathematics Integration for Middle School Science and Mathematics Teachers

This paper is based on an online graduate program for middle school science and mathematics teachers in Texas titled Integration of Science, Mathematics and Reflective Teaching (iSMART). Launching the program for its first cohort in fall 2010, the authors attempted to answer the following two questions in this paper: (a) How do the members of the iSMART design team and the first cohort of teacher participants define science and mathematics integration with similar and different emphases? and (b) How would these definitions and concerns impact the ongoing design of the program? The iSMART design team members and the participating cohort teachers had a shared view regarding the importance of integration and its possible impact on student motivation. The findings also revealed that the two groups showed some different points of emphasis in their definitions of integration. These issues will be addressed in the ongoing design of the program in the following three areas: (a) design of the second summer meeting activities, (b) greater emphasis on teacher as researcher and action research, and (c) administrative support for teacher collaboration.     

高等数学与高中数学的衔接

从高中教材和高等数学教材的内容、高等数学和初等数学的思维模式、教师的教学方法、学生的学习方法四个方面分析学生在学习高等数学时感到困难的原因,并探讨在高等数学教学中,做好高等数学与高中数学衔接的五项具体措施：上好绪论课,帮助学生建立自主学习的观念;指导正确的学习方法,培养学生的自学能力;给出数学概念要循序渐进,注意知识的衔接;加强习题指导,加深学生对基本概念的理解;及时了解学生状况,有针对性地开展教育。     

Boundary Spanners as Bridges of Student and School Discourses in an Urban Science and Mathematics High School

A key to improving urban science and mathematics education is to facilitate the mutual understanding of the participants involved and then look for strategies to bridge differences. Educators need new theoretical tools to do so. In this paper the argument is made that the concept of “boundary spanner” is such a tool. Boundary spanners are individuals, objects, media, and other experiences that link an organization to its environment. They serve critical communicative roles, such as bridges for bringing distinct discourses together, cultural guides to make discourses of the “other” more explicit, and change agents for potentially reshaping participants' discourses. This ethnographic study provides three examples of boundary spanners found in the context of an urban public high school of science, mathematics, and technology: boundary media, boundary objects, and boundary experiences. The analysis brings to the foreground students' and teachers' distinct discourses about “good student identity,”“good student work,” and “good summer experience” and demonstrates how boundary spanners shaped, were shaped by, and sometimes brought together participants' distinct discourses. An argument is made for boundary spanners' practical and theoretical utility: practically, as a tool for enhancing meaning‐making between diverse groups, and theoretically, as a heuristic tool for understanding the reproductive and transformative aspects of urban science education.