Reflections of Mathematical and Mathematics Educational Values on Pedagogical Formation Students' Teaching Preferences

Abstract

As in all fields, values are an important component of classroom"s affective environment in mathematics course, too, and have a significant impact on students" mathematical efforts. As it would directly affect classroom practices and learning, it is deemed important to determine preservice teachers" value profiles. This research aimed to address mathematical and mathematics educational values of mathematics students receiving pedagogical formation in terms of constructivist and positivist approaches and examine these values along with their opinions on the use of different teaching strategies, methods and techniques (SMTs) in courses. The participants were 288 mathematics students receiving pedagogical formation at two public universities. As data collection instruments, Mathematical and Mathematics Educational Values Scale and a written interview form were used to associate their values with their teaching preferences. The study concluded a significant difference in favor of constructivist values when comparing participants" levels of having positivist values with their levels of constructivist values. The findings achieved from the interview forms indicated that majority of participants preferred student-centered teaching strategies, methods and techniques; in other words, they regarded themselves rather as constructivists.