Chinese elementary mathematics teachers knowledge in mathematics and pedagogy for teaching: the case of fraction division Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • In this study, we investigated the extent of knowledge in mathematics and pedagogy that Chinese practicing elementary mathematics teachers have and what changes teaching experience may bring to their knowledge. With a sample of 18 mathematics teachers from two elementary schools, we focused on both practicing teachers' beliefs and perceptions about their own knowledge in mathematics and pedagogy and the extent of their knowledge on the topic of fraction division. The results revealed a gap between these teachers' limited knowledge about the curriculum they teach and their solid mathematics knowledge for teaching, as an example, fraction division. Moreover, senior teachers used more diverse strategies that are concrete in nature than junior teachers in providing procedural justifications. The results suggested that Chinese practicing teachers benefit from teaching and inservice professional development for the improvement of their mathematics knowledge for teaching but not their knowledge about mathematics curriculum. FIZ Karlsruhe 2008.

published proceedings

  • ZDM Mathematics Education

altmetric score

  • 5.488

author list (cited authors)

  • Li, Y., & Huang, R.

citation count

  • 17

complete list of authors

  • Li, Yeping||Huang, Rongjin

publication date

  • December 2008