Abstract
This article discusses theoretical assumptions either explicitly stated or implied in research on teachers’ beliefs. Such research often assumes teachers can easily articulate their beliefs and that there is a one-to-one correspondence between what teachers state and what researchers think those statements mean. Research conducted under this paradigm often reports inconsistencies between teachers’ beliefs and their actions. This article describes an alternative framework for conceptualizing teachers’ beliefs that views teachers as inherently sensible rather than inconsistent beings. Instead of viewing teachers’ beliefs as inconsistent, teachers’ abilities to articulate their beliefs as well as researchers’ interpretations of those beliefs are seen as problematic. Implications of such a view for research on teacher beliefs as well as for the practice of mathematics teacher education are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brouseau B. A., Freeman D. J. (1988). How do teacher education faculty members define desirable teacher beliefs? Teaching & Teacher Education 4:267–273
Cooney T. J. (1985). A beginning teacher’s view of problem solving. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 16:324–336
Furinghetti F., Pehkonen E. (2002). Rethinking characterizations of beliefs. In: Leder G. C., Pehkonen E., Törner G. (eds), Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? Vol. 31. Dordrecht The Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 39–57
Green T. F. (1971). The activities of teaching. McGraw-Hill, New York
Jaworski B. (1994). Investigating mathematics teaching: A constructivist enquiry. Falmer Press, London
Kagan D. M. (1992). Implications of research on teacher belief. Educational Psychologist 27(1):65–90
Leatham K. R. (2002). Preservice secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs about teaching with technology. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Leder G. C., Pehkonen E., Törner G. (eds.), (2002). Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? (Vol. 31). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht The Netherlands
Lloyd G. M., Wilson M. (1998). Supporting innovation: The impact of a teacher’s conceptions of functions on his implementation of a reform curriculum. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 29:248–274
Merriam-webster online dictionary. (2005). Retrieved February 15, 2005, from www.m-w.com/.
Pajares M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research 62:307–332
Pehkonen, E. & Furinghetti, F. (2001). An attempt to clarify definitions of the basic concepts: Belief, conception, knowledge. In R. Speiser, C. A. Maher & C. N. Walter (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp. 647–655). Columbus, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education.
Pintrich P. R. (2002). Future challenges and directions for theory and research on personal epistemology. In: Hofer B. K., Pintrich P. R. (eds.), Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 389–414
Raymond A. M. (1997). Inconsistency between a beginning elementary school teacher’s mathematics beliefs and teaching practice. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 28:550–576
Rokeach M. (1968). Beliefs, attitudes, and values: A theory of organization and change. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Skott J. (2001a). The emerging practices of a novice teacher: The roles of his school mathematics images. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education 4:3–28
Skott, J. (2001b, June). Why belief research raises the right question but provides the wrong type of answer. Paper presented at the 3rd Nordic Conference on Mathematics Education, Kristianstad, Sweden.
Sztajn P. (2003). Adapting reform ideas in different mathematics classrooms: Beliefs beyond mathematics. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education 6:53–75
Thagard P. (2000). Coherence in thought and action. MIT Press, Cambridge MA
Thompson A. G. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and conceptions: A synthesis of the research. In: Grouws D. A. (ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning. Macmillan, New York, pp. 127–146
Wilson M., Cooney T. J. (2002). Mathematics teacher change and development. In: Leder G. C., Pehkonen E., Törner G. (eds), Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? Vol. 31. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 127–147
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is based on the author’s doctoral dissertation completed at the University of Georgia under the direction of Thomas J. Cooney. Parts of this article were presented at the 2004 meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Toronto, Canada).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leatham, K.R. Viewing Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs as Sensible Systems*. J Math Teacher Educ 9, 91–102 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-006-9006-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-006-9006-8