“Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching

Julie Nurnberger-Haag; Rashmi Singh; Jamie L. W. Wernet; Anita N. Alexander

doi:10.29333/iejme/10941

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Julie Nurnberger-Haag ¹ ^* , Rashmi Singh ² , Jamie L. W. Wernet ³, Anita N. Alexander ⁴

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¹ Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA² Boston University, Boston, MA, USA³ Lansing Christian School, Lansing, MI, USA⁴ University of Bilkent, Ankara, TURKEY^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Some goals of mathematics teacher education include ensuring that pre-service teachers (PSTs) have strong content knowledge, the skill to anticipate and interpret student thinking, the ability to plan how to respond, and the ability to critically select resources for instruction. These goals are especially challenging for the topic of geometric shapes. Thus, we share an instructional activity that focuses PSTs’ attention on an inaccurate resource of geometric information, children’s books, to accomplish these goals in mathematics content as well as methods courses. Analyses of surveys and content assessments conducted to assess efficacy of the Shape Book Critique Activity were interpreted with the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) framework. Based on the findings we suggest that this short 40-minute activity is a promising way to promote PSTs’ growth in three aspects of MKT for geometric shapes.

Keywords

geometry
pre-service teacher
mathematical knowledge for teaching
teacher education

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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

INT ELECT J MATH ED, Volume 16, Issue 3, October 2021, Article No: em0642

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941

Publication date: 28 May 2021

Article Views: 3631

Article Downloads: 1721

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Declaration of Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest is declared by author(s).

Data sharing statement: Data supporting the findings and conclusions are available upon request from the corresponding author(s).

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How to cite this article

APA

Nurnberger-Haag, J., Singh, R., Wernet, J. L. W., & Alexander, A. N. (2021). “Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 16(3), em0642. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941

Vancouver

Nurnberger-Haag J, Singh R, Wernet JLW, Alexander AN. “Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2021;16(3):em0642. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941

AMA

Nurnberger-Haag J, Singh R, Wernet JLW, Alexander AN. “Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2021;16(3), em0642. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941

Chicago

Nurnberger-Haag, Julie, Rashmi Singh, Jamie L. W. Wernet, and Anita N. Alexander. "“Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2021 16 no. 3 (2021): em0642. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941

Harvard

Nurnberger-Haag, J., Singh, R., Wernet, J. L. W., and Alexander, A. N. (2021). “Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 16(3), em0642. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941

MLA

Nurnberger-Haag, Julie et al. "“Books I Used as a Child were Mathematically Incorrect”: Reasons to Use Children’s Shape-Related Books as a Resource to Improve Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 16, no. 3, 2021, em0642. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/10941