Prospective teachers’ beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs about inquiry-based teaching approach in mathematics
Abstract
The present study focuses on the investigation of prospective teachers’ beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs about the use of the inquiry-based teaching approach in mathematics education during their studies, before and after fieldwork. The aim of the two courses they attended during their studies in a pedagogical department emphasized the understanding of the human involvement on the development of the mathematical concepts through the history of mathematics and the role of investigation and exploration at the teaching of mathematics, as a part of the inquiry-based approach. At the final year of their studies, during the fieldwork they were expected to implement the acquired knowledge about innovative processes in real life classroom situations. The study which conducted with the participation of 73 prospective teachers is divided into three main phases: a) examining their beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs after attending a course about Basic Mathematical Concepts based on the History of Mathematics, b) examining their beliefs and their self-efficacy beliefs after attending a course about the Methodology of Teaching Mathematics in primary education and c) examining the difficulties they face during their first teaching experiences in real life school situations during the last year of their studies. Results indicated that participants seemed to believe in the value of inquiry-based approach and they had high self-efficacy beliefs about using explorations and investigations which were presented at the textbooks; however they had low self-efficacy beliefs about constructing mathematical investigations and explorations by themselves and overcoming teaching difficulties which were related with children’s misunderstandings and time allocation management, during the fieldwork experience.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18686/ahe.v2i2.1132
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