“Name Three Good Things About Yourself in Mathematics” – An Intervention to Reduce Pre-Service Teachers’ Shame in Mathematics

Shame is an unpleasant and activating emotion that affects learners’ achievement, including in mathematics, and pre-service teachers’ identity development. It is closely connected with the self. The current study investigated the efficacy of an intervention adapted from positive psychology aiming to reduce pre-service primary teachers’ shame in mathematics. Accordingly, the three good things technique was adapted with respect to the self. The efficacy of the intervention was analyzed in comparison to a qualified control group and a control group receiving no intervention. Participants were allocated at random to the three groups. In total, n = 176 pre-service primary school teachers took part in the experiment for a duration of five weeks with exercises twice a week. Findings suggest small positive effects of the adapted intervention on shame reduction in mathematics and superior effects in comparison to both control groups.Peer Reviewe

What affects the arrogant, proud or ashamed pre-service teacher in mathematics? Effects of social comparison, gender and self-concept on self-conscious emotions

Emotions are essential for the development of professional competence and identity of pre-service teachers. Thus, they can also be seen as an inherent part of teachers’ professional competence and identity. They also influence teachers’ later emotional experience when teaching at school. Mathematics, especially, triggers activating emotions in pre-service primary school teachers. Pride and shame can be understood as relevant achievement emotions, which are also closely linked to the self-concept of a person. Nevertheless, they have been insufficiently studied among pre-service mathematics teachers so far. The present study examines authentic and hubristic pride and shame among n = 310 German prospective primary school teachers in relation to self-concept (ability vs. effort), gender and social comparison with fellow students regarding their own achievement. On the one hand, the results point to the difference between authentic and hubristic pride, and on the other hand, the study provides evidence for the dynamic closeness of shame and hubristic pride. Practical implications, especially for teacher education, are discussed against the background of the limitations of the study.Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (1034)Peer Reviewe

Chapter 5 A math-avoidant profession?

Despite positive attitudes towards mathematics, it must be assumed that mathematics anxiety is a factor not to be underestimated in (pre-service) early childhood teachers. In the first part, this article reviews the current international state of research on early childhood teachers’ mathematics anxiety and shows the achievements and limitations of previous studies. The majority of the reviewed studies deals with pre-service early childhood teachers and their teacher education. Only a few studies tried to relate in-service early childhood teachers’ mathematics anxiety and children’s mathematical achievement. In the second part, this contribution examines empirically whether it can be assumed that the profession “early childhood teacher” can be characterized as “math-avoidant”. For this purpose, n = 774 German pre-service early childhood teachers were examined with regard to their mathematics anxiety and their choice of career. The results indicate effects of mathematics anxiety on the intentional choice to work as an early childhood teacher. The paper concludes with a general conclusion on the importance of mathematics anxiety for early childhood teachers’ professional competence and an outlook on future research

The Role of Intelligence and Self-Concept for Teachers’ Competence

Research on intelligence and competence has developed widely independent of each other. The present paper aims at relating these traditions and at integrating the dominant models to fill gaps in the respective theories. We test the structural models derived from this integration in a series of confirmatory factor analyses and a latent moderated structural equations approach using teachers as an example. The data reveal that both fluid intelligence (gf) and domain-specific knowledge affect teachers’ ability to solve the domain-specific items. Teachers’ academic self-concept related to mathematics explains individual differences beyond gf. An interaction effect between gf and self-concept exists for teachers’ pedagogical content and general pedagogical knowledge, but not for their mathematics knowledge. This finding indicates that a positive self-concept cannot compensate for a lack of gf, but it supports the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge in case of high gf, probably because it facilitates overcoming challenges.Peer Reviewe

Die Rolle von Lerngelegenheiten in der Ausbildung von frühpädagogischen Fachkräften aus zwei Perspektiven: Ein Mehrebenenmodell

Early childhood teacher education is considered crucial for the development of professional knowledge. However, little is known about the impacts of teacher educators, especially with respect to domain-specific knowledge in areas like early mathematics education. We investigated the relationship between opportunities to learn as reported by teacher educators and perceived by pre-service teachers and pre-service teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge, mathematics pedagogical content knowledge, and mathematical content knowledge. The sample comprised 909 pre-service teachers from two different teacher education tracks (vocational school vs. university) and their 43 teacher educators. The results provided the first empirical evidence that opportunities to learn reported by teacher educators are highly relevant for pre-service teachers’ knowledge. This strengthens calls to focus on the role of teacher educators in both research and practice.Die Ausbildung von frühpädagogischen Fachkräften gilt als Ausgangspunkt für die Entwicklung von professionellem Wissen. Bislang ist wenig über die Rolle von Lehrkräften in der Ausbildung bekannt, insbesondere, wenn es um die Entwicklung von domänenspezifischem Wissen, z. B. zur frühen mathematischen Bildung geht. In der vorliegenden Studie untersuchen wir den Zusammenhang von Lerngelegenheiten, die von den Lehrkräften berichtet werden, Lerngelegenheiten, die von den Auszubildenden wahrgenommen werden und dem allgemein-pädagogische, mathematikdidaktischem und mathematischem Wissen. Die Studie basiert auf einer Stichprobe von 909 angehenden frühpädagogischen Fachkräften, die sowohl an der Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik als auch in kindheitspädagogischen Studiengängen ausgebildet werden und deren 43 Lehrkräften. Die Ergebnisse geben erste Hinweise, dass die von den Lehrkräften berichteten Lerngelegenheiten bedeutsam für das erreichte Wissen sind und stärken damit die Forderung in Forschung und Praxis die Rolle der Lehrkräfte stärker in den Blick zu nehmen

Dimensions of pre-service teachers’ diagnostic judgements of student solutions

Judgments are part of teachers’ daily practice and crucial for students’ educational careers. Previous evidence indicated that judgments are informed by various criteria. But how pre-service teachers (PSTs) judge student solutions and how these judgments are structured are still open questions. In two studies we shed light on the construct. First, we investigated PSTs’ judgements of an exemplary student solution regarding the applied categories (n1=110). Based on the results, we then constructed items and investigated the structure of the construct by applying EFA and CFA (n2a=168, n2b=209). The results revealed the following judgment dimensions: understanding, solution quality, presentation of procedure, and motivation. In addition to evidence on the structure of the construct, we gained an instrument to measure PSTs’ judgments

Measuring Pre-service Primary Teachers’ Shame in Mathematics—a Comprehensive Validation Study

Emotions play an essential role in educational processes. Previous research has mainly dealt with achievement emotions which are experienced in specific situations such as exams or learning situations in mathematics (e.g. enjoyment or anxiety). Some achievement emotions are rather experienced in social contexts in mathematics and are closely related to the self. These emotions such as shame are assumed to be also relevant for mathematics achievement. However, a reliable and valid instrument is missing to measure shame in mathematics. Validity evidence for the newly developed Shame in Mathematics Questionnaire (SHAME-Q) was collected in three studies with pre-service primary teachers. Study 1 investigated the content validity by conducting a systematic expert panel study. Study 2 and study 3 examined with two different samples the factorial structure and relations to other constructs in terms of discriminant (enjoyment) and convergent (anxiety) validity as well as to pre-service teachers’ grade in school mathematics, their intention to teach mathematics at school, and gender. The data supported strongly the validity assumptions as well as reliability and parsimony of the instrument. Psychometric limitations of SHAME-Q and applicability of the questionnaire are discussed.Peer Reviewe

Early Childhood Teachers’ Competence to Evaluate Children’s Mathematical Skills

This study examined German early childhood teachers’ absolute and relative judgment accuracy with respect to the mathematical skills of the children under their supervision. The two types of judgment accuracy are crucial prerequisites for pacing activities in early childhood education and offering differentiated activities adapted to children’s individual skill levels. Data from 39 early childhood teachers and 268 children were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Teachers rated children’s skills on a structured observation instrument (“Kinder Diagnose Tool”, KiDiT). Children were assessed on their mathematical skills with a standardized test (“Mathematische Basiskompetenzen im Kindesalter”, MBK-0). On average, 65% of the variation in teachers’ judgments on the KiDiT could be explained by children’s MBK-0 scores which suggests that teachers are – on average – well able to rank children within their groups. Teachers were also able to judge the mathematical level of children’s skills as assessed by the MBK-0. Neither teachers’ mathematical content knowledge (MCK), nor their mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) or their general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) moderated the relationship between teachers’ judgments and children’s test scores or the relationship between the level of the judgments and the level of test scores. Conclusions for future research and practice are drawn

Pre-service primary teachers’ shame experiences during their schooling time: characteristics and effects on their subject-choices at university

Emotions play an essential role in pre-service teachers’ competence development, particularly in mathematics. However, the emotion of shame in mathematics has been largely neglected so far. This article deals with shameful experiences of pre-service primary school teachers during their mathematical education at school and the various effects of shame on their decision to study mathematics as a subject at university. The research consists of a qualitative and a quantitative study with 311 prospective primary school teachers who responded to a survey about their experiences of shame in mathematics at school when they were students. Results of the qualitative study emphasize the different experiences in mathematics during the school years and reveal the characteristics of these situations, for example, social exposure or competition games. In the quantitative study, pre-service primary teachers’ subject choice was analyzed in relation to their experienced shame in mathematics at school. Results reveal that shame experienced at school has effects on the initial choice in favor of mathematics at university. Implications for primary teacher education are finally discussed.Peer Reviewe

Differentiated description of pre-service early childhood teachers’ skill to plan actions with respect to math-related learning support—An exploratory study

Der Handlungsplanung als Teil professioneller Kompetenz kommt eine wesentliche Bedeutung bei der Überführung von Wissen in spontane Handlungen in pädagogischen Situationen zu. Obwohl Forschung die Bedeutung der Handlungsplanung für professionelles Handeln im Bereich früher mathematischer Bildung kontinuierlich betont, ist sowohl empirisch als auch inhaltlich wenig bekannt, welche Formen der mathematischen Lernunterstützung sich zeigen. Es lassen sich drei Formen unterscheiden: (1) Anleitung, (2) Begleitung und (3) Keine mathematikbezogene Lernunterstützung. Die vorliegende Studie versucht einen Beitrag zur differenzierten Beschreibung der Handlungsplanung in der frühen mathematischen Bildung zu leisten, indem Daten von n = 240 angehenden Erzieher*innen explorativ untersucht werden. Die drei zuvor theoretisch aus der Literatur zur Lernunterstützung abgeleiteten Formen ließen sich als Kategorien in den schriftlich formulierten Handlungsplanungen codieren. Darüber hinaus konnten Unterkategorien identifiziert werden, die die Handlungsplanung noch differenzierter beschreiben. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund der Situationsabhängigkeit, möglicher Erklärungen für die unterschiedlichen Gestaltungen der Handlungsplanungen und praktischer Implikationen diskutiert.The skill to plan actions is an inherent part of professional competence and crucial for the transformation of professionals’ knowledge to observable behavior. Although research on professional performance in early mathematics education continuously emphasizes the skill to plan actions, only little is known when it comes to empirical evidence or the differentiation with regard to three categories identified in the literature of math-related learning support: (1) accompanying mathematical learning, (2) guiding mathematical learning, and (3) no math-related action. The present study contributes to a differentiated description of the skill to plan actions in the field of mathematics education in children’s early years by examining n = 240 pre-service early childhood teachers’ responses to a standardized test and by applying exploratory analyses. The three former theoretically derived types were found empirically in the responses of the pre-service early childhood teachers. Furthermore, subcategories to describe the skill to plan actions in more detail have been identified. Results are discussed regarding situation-specificity, explanations for variability across these different types and practical implications