Sociomathematical Norms and the Teacher’s Mathematical Belief: A Case Study from a Korean In-Service Elementary Teacher
Seon Mi Kang 1, Min Kyeong Kim 1 *
More Detail
1 Ewha Womans University* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background:
The purpose of the present study is to analyze how the sociomathematical norm, or the process of promoting the understanding of mathematical concepts and principles through the interaction between teacher and students, is established in relation to the teacher’s mathematical beliefs in a fourth-grade mathematics class.

Material and methods:
13 sessions of Teacher K’s elementary mathematics class for a period of one year were observed and monitored by recording, and the students’ lesson activities sheets were collected after each class. Both the students and K were interviewed. The sociomathematical norm was modified and complemented, and coded into five components.

Results:
Teacher K highlighted both the view of ‘Mathematics as formal,’ which argues that mathematics requires logical thinking, and the view of ‘Mathematics as procedural,’ which claims that a mathematics problem allows for multiple solutions.

Conclusions:
A teacher’s mathematical belief is reflected in his or her decision making at every moment of a math class, and greatly influences teaching and learning, specifically, the instructions, objectives, content and methods involved in their classroom environment.

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2016, Volume 12, Issue 10, 2733-2751

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1308a

Publication date: 25 Jul 2016

Article Views: 3011

Article Downloads: 3957

Open Access References How to cite this article