Belief Structure and Inservice High School Mathematics Teacher Growth

Abstract

The nature of belief structure and change are discussed in this chapter, as are reports on an interpretative study of the professional growth of four inservice high school mathematics teachers who made fundamental changes to their teaching over their teaching careers without the aid of a particular professional development program. However, because of space constraints detailed data are presented for only two of these teachers. The analysis of the study focused on the nature of the teachers’ belief structures for mathematics and the relationships between these structures and changes in their teaching. The findings included that, for each teacher, the belief structure was built up over time, was centered around a pedagogical view of mathematics held as an experiential construct (e.g., play) and was characterized by attributes associated with this construct (e.g., fun). These attributes were important in allowing the teachers to recognize and resolve pedagogical tensions and in generating changes in their teaching. The way in which this occurred is discussed through narratives of two of the participants’ experiences and schemas of their belief structures for mathematics. Implications of the resulting perspective of belief structure are discussed in relation to what should be attended to when trying to facilitate change in teachers’ practice.