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The durability of professional and sociomathematical norms intentionally fostered in an early pedagogy course

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education volume 15, pages 293–315 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which three sociomathematical and four professional norms intentionally fostered in an early mathematics pedagogy course through the use of a video-case curriculum re-emerged in a similar context with two groups: (1) teacher candidates in the final mathematics pedagogy course of the same teacher education program and (2) program graduates in their beginning years of teaching. All seven norms were found to be durable over time, with the sociomathematical norm of providing a mathematical argument being the most widely and consistently exhibited among the participants. Comparisons of the behaviors exhibited by the two groups revealed that five of the norms were consistently durable over time with both groups and suggested that participants’ engagement with two of the norms was positively affected by additional classroom experience. Details of differences among the groups and ways in which the norms appeared to support continued teacher learning are examined. The results point to the long-term benefits of developing productive norms early in a teacher education program.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. The Counting Cube problem and the accompanying video are from the Turning to the Evidence project (see Seago and Goldsmith 2005). The writing prompts were also adapted from this project.

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Acknowledgments

The research reported here was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation under grant no. ESI-0243558, awarded to Judy Mumme and Nanette Seago, WestEd. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. Portions of this article were presented at the annual conferences of the Psychology of Mathematics Education North American Chapter in 2009 and the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education in 2010. The authors would like to acknowledge Judy Mumme for her contributions to shaping the ideas in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics 5248, Western Michigan University, 1903 W. Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo, MI, 49008, USA

    Laura R. Van Zoest

  2. Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA

    Shari L. Stockero

  3. University of Missouri, 303 Townsend Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Cynthia E. Taylor

Authors
  1. Laura R. Van Zoest
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  2. Shari L. Stockero
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  3. Cynthia E. Taylor
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Correspondence to Laura R. Van Zoest.

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Van Zoest, L.R., Stockero, S.L. & Taylor, C.E. The durability of professional and sociomathematical norms intentionally fostered in an early pedagogy course. J Math Teacher Educ 15, 293–315 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-011-9183-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-011-9183-y

Keywords

  • Sociomathematical norms
  • Professional norms
  • Teacher education
  • Norm durability
  • Mathematics pedagogy course
  • Video-case curriculum

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