An Evaluation of The Preservice-Teacher Training for Children’s Literature and Mathematics Integration

Abstract

This study aims to examine the change in the teachers’ beliefs about the training, presented as an online education for the children’s literature and mathematics teaching to pre-service pre-school, primary and elementary teachers. The participants of the research consisted of 54 pre-service teachers who were selected by purposive sampling method. A weak experimental pre-test post-test design without a control group was used in the study. The data collection tools were the belief scale for the integration of mathematics and children's literature, mathematics teaching self-efficacy belief, and mathematics literacy self-efficacy scales. The study findings revealed that the training enabled the pre-service teachers to gain positive inputs within the context of all the variables. Besides, the pre-service teachers’ scores varied across their branches. In addition, the training was identified to have a significant effect on the difference scores obtained from all factors except for the practitioner competencies complicating the integration process and social norms. Based on the findings, various studies such as face-to-face and experimental studies on a single field/branch basis may be conducted to examine the changes in the pre-service teachers' beliefs and competencies towards integrating mathematics and children's literature.

Effects of using picture books in mathematics teaching and learning: A systematic literature review from 2000–2022

“…During the teacher training programme, participated pre‐service or in‐service teachers should have opportunities to engage in the whole process of using picture books in teaching, in which they must select or evaluate suitable picture books, prepare an integrated lesson plan based on the selected book (Binns et al, 2020), and implement the lesson plan in the classroom. Recently, Durmaz (2022) has shown how structured teacher training can positively change the beliefs of teachers regarding the integration of children's literature into mathematics teaching in the context of an online platform. In the 6‐day teacher training programme, as in many previous studies, the participating pre‐service elementary teachers initially believed that picture books are mainly used for early childhood students, and that these books are inappropriate for older students.…”

The Use of Literary Elements in Teaching Mathematics: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…In contrast to this call, in their mathematics education focused review Gökçe and Güner (2021) warn the researchers to focus on students rather than teachers because there are a lot of keywords such as professional development, teacher knowledge and beliefs etc in the mathematics education literature. However, in-service and pre-service teachers still need extra support for the use of literary elements in mathematics teaching (Edelman, 2017;Livy et al, 2021;Rogers et al, 2015), and when support is provided, they may develop their integration abilities (Durmaz, 2022;Wheeler & Mallam, 2020). So, this call made throughout mathematics education may not be fully responded to for a while in this field.…”

“…There are also many studies carried out with pre-service and in-service teachers. In studies in which pre-service teachers are the participants of the research, usually (Can et al, 2020;Durmaz, 2022;Edelman, 2017;Harding et al, 2017;Jett, 2014;Leonard et al, 2014;Livy et al, 2021;Nesmith et al, 2017;Nurnberger-Haag et al, 2020b;Nurnberger-Haag et al, 2021b;Prendergast et al, 2019;Purdum-Cassidy et al, 2015;Rogers et al, 2015;Wheeler & Mallam, 2020) are examined the beliefs and opinions of pre-service and inservice teachers towards this integration, analyzed integrated activities and lesson plans with children's literary elements or focused on teacher education/professional development. The studies carried out with in-service teachers mostly deal with their views and experiences related to children's literary elements and mathematics integration (Can & Durmaz, 2023;Cotti & Schiro, 2004;Farrugia & Trakulpdetkrai, 2020;Hojnoski et al, 2016;Jett, 2018;Livy et al, 2021;Prendergast et al, 2019;Stites et al, 2020;Toh et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2022).…”

“…The development of these views may have been influenced by investigations done mostly with young children and in the setting of mathematics (Edelman et al, 2019). Whereas using children's literary elements in mathematics teaching has many potentials in the context of teacher education (Can et al, 2020;Durmaz, 2022;Ginsburg & Uscianowski, 2017;Jett, 2018). Because this integration helps to increase teachers' self-efficacy in mathematics and encourages them to design innovative mathematics lessons (Jett, 2018), which is one of the important goals of a constructivist curriculum.…”