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Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Needed for Teaching Geometry: Are They Related?

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From beliefs to dynamic affect systems in mathematics education

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on methodological issues related to investigating preschool teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching geometry. The first issue discussed is the specificity, as opposed to the generality, of self-efficacy and the need to design instruments which are sensitive to this aspect of self-efficacy. Specificity may be related to content, in this case geometry and the specific figures under investigation. In other words, self-efficacy for teaching triangles may differ from self-efficacy for teaching pentagons. Self-efficacy may also be related to the specific action being performed, such as designing tasks for promoting knowledge versus designing tasks for evaluating knowledge. The chapter also investigates the relationship between preschool teachers’ knowledge and self-efficacy for identifying geometrical figures, presenting a method for studying this relationship but also raising questions related to this method.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by THE ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (grant No. 654/10). We would also like to thank Dr. Sigal Levy, from The Academic College of Tel Aviv Yaffo, for her assistance and advice regarding statistical analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education, University of Tel Aviv, Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Pessia Tsamir, Dina Tirosh, Esther Levenson, Michal Tabach & Ruthi Barkai

Authors
  1. Pessia Tsamir
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  2. Dina Tirosh
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  3. Esther Levenson
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  4. Michal Tabach
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  5. Ruthi Barkai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Esther Levenson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sør-Trøndelag University College, Trondheim, Norway

    Birgit Pepin

  2. Professional School of Education Department of Mathematics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Bettina Roesken-Winter

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Tsamir, P., Tirosh, D., Levenson, E., Tabach, M., Barkai, R. (2015). Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Needed for Teaching Geometry: Are They Related?. In: Pepin, B., Roesken-Winter, B. (eds) From beliefs to dynamic affect systems in mathematics education. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06808-4_16

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