• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.360-379
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate beginning elementary teachers' beliefs about the nature of science. Defining teachers' beliefs as a broad construct, we tried to examine the teachers' understandings about the nature of science. The methodology of this study was a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews. In an urban area of Korea, five beginning elementary teachers were chosen. The cross-case and grounded theory study design were adopted for the data analysis. The results of data analysis were checked by teachers for internal validity. This study identified the teachers' beliefs about the nature of science suggested by many researchers. The results of this study showed that: 1) beginning elementary teachers did not well understand and were unfamiliar with the meanings of various terms about the nature of science; 2) their beliefs abut the nature of science were broad and various; 3) they understood some parts of the nature of science; 4) there were differences within their understandings about subconcepts of the nature of science.

• East Asian mathematical journal
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.203-227
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• 2020

This study is observed in this paper that how the mathematical beliefs of elementary pre-service teachers are reflected in planning and implementing actual mathematics classes. The subjects for this study are senior students at the university of education. After examining their mathematical beliefs and analyzing their actual mathematics classes in a teaching practicum, the following conclusions are drawn. First, the mathematical beliefs of elementary pre-service teachers have generally shown in a similar tendency. The beliefs formed by the students' experience and the beliefs established in the course of preparing to become teachers have coexisted. Second, the teachers' belief in learning mathematics and the teaching practices are largely inconsistent. Third, when elementary pre-service teachers plan and implement their mathematic classes, they are influenced by their guidance teachers and students as well as their own mathematical beliefs.

• School Mathematics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.593-611
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• 2015

Under the assumptions that teachers' beliefs toward mathematics education play a role of a filter between teachers' knowledge and teaching practices, this study surveyed and analyzed elementary teachers' beliefs toward mathematics education: helping students to understand mathematics concepts, addressing students' mathematical misconceptions, engaging students in mathematics classroom, and improving students' mathematical thinking. From the analysis of survey results of the study, I found that there were dominant components in elementary teachers' beliefs system regarding teaching mathematics. In addition, there are some constructs affected by teachers' characteristics such as gender and educational backgrounds. In this study, I presented a representative model of elementary teachers' beliefs system toward mathematics education.

• The Mathematical Education
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.131-146
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• 2014

This study examines whether there is discrepancy between elementary and middle school mathematics teachers' beliefs and practices in constructed-response assessment and how their beliefs and practices are interrelated. Analyzing the responses of 212 elementary teachers and 189 middle school mathematics teachers to the questionnaire, we found that there is lack of consistency among elementary and middle school teachers' beliefs, practices, and expected benefits regarding constructed-response assessment. In addition, there was a weak correlation between each group of teachers' beliefs and expected benefits about constructed-response assessment. The results from this study imply that such inconsistency in elementary and middle school teachers' beliefs and practices regarding assessments may determine the effects of constructed-response assessment.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2011

In this study, we examined the types and the characteristics of elementary school teachers' strategies for coping with critical incidents in science classes. Teachers' epistemological beliefs about science were then investigated on the bases of the types of their coping strategies. The teachers (N=107) in 23 elementary schools were asked to respond to an open-ended question about the critical incidents they had experienced in science classes and how to cope with them. Seven types of coping strategies were identified as follows: avoiding, reinterpretation, adjusting, prevaricating, justifying, exploring, and explaining. Among them, adjusting and justifying were the major strategies. In order to classify teachers' epistemological beliefs about science, their coping strategies were grouped into four categories such as transferring facts, constructing facts, transferring meanings, and constructing meanings. The results indicated that most teachers still possessed traditional epistemological beliefs about science. The potential of critical incidents as a probe for revealing teachers' epistemological beliefs about science is discussed.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.374-382
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• 2006

This study investigated the effect of the 'Chemistry in everyday life' course for 234 pre-service elementary teachers on their beliefs regarding science teaching efficacy and the nature of science. This study also examined the effect of this particular course by their field (natural science, humanities & social science, and fine arts). The results show that after the semester the pre-service teachers' science teaching efficacy beliefs were enhanced. In particular, their personal science teaching efficacy beliefs were improved across all fields. However, their beliefs regarding the nature of science remained largely unchanged. This study discussed the implications surrounding science courses for pre-service teachers.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.31-52
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• 2020

This study aimed to examine the relationships among elementary mathematics teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, constructivist beliefs, and years of experience. This study used the primary data set of 299 Korean elementary school teachers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson's correlation test, multivariate analysis of variance, and structural equation modeling were conducted. This study found that mathematics teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were positively related to their years of experience and constructivist beliefs, whereas there was no significant association between teachers' years of experience and constructivist beliefs. Additionally, teachers' self-efficacy beliefs significantly mediated the relationship between years of experience and constructivist beliefs.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.47-82
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• 2019

Pennsylvania is one of the states that adopted the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and crafted its own standards (The PA Core State Standards). Pennsylvania teachers are required to have a clear understanding of the PA Core Standards. It is timely and appropriate to study Pennsylvania teachers' beliefs, as the standards have been adopted and implemented for several years since the revision of the PA Core Standards (2014). This study examined how eight western Pennsylvania elementary school teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics related to the SMP. To this end, I conducted an in-depth interview with each participating teacher. The in-depth interviews featured the teachers' overarching mathematical instructional goals and their productive beliefs. Furthermore, I linked these beliefs with the CCSSM Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP).

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.487-521
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze the effect of mathematics teaching experience during the teaching practicum on pre-service elementary teachers' beliefs about mathematics. The conclusions drawn from the entire research were, as follow: First, it can be said that mathematics teaching experience during the teaching practicum has a significant effect on the change of pre-service elementary teachers' beliefs about mathematics. Specifically, the teaching experience during the teaching practicum has statistically significantly negative effects(p=.05) on pre-service elementary teachers' beliefs about the teaching mathematics. Second, the factors which help pre-service elementary teachers the most in preparing for mathematics classes are collaborating teachers in charge of supervising them, the teacher's guidebook and materials acquired from the Internet. Third, pre-service elementary teachers are well aware of the importance of understanding students and emphasize concrete manipulative activities, but experience lots of failures due to difficulty of drawing students' attention. Fourth, collaborating teachers do not play a significant role in helping pre-service elementary teachers develop and change their beliefs about mathematics positively. The advise given by collaborating teachers to pre-service elementary teachers is mostly about simple techniques of managing the classroom. So, collaborating teachers do not affect significantly and positively on the change of pre-service elementary teachers' beliefs. Fifth, regardless of their belief tendency, pre-service elementary teachers teach more confidently and feel more satisfactory when they prepared for classes more thoughtfully and understanded students more deeply.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.192-200
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• 2007

In this study, we investigated the variables related to the science teaching efficacy beliefs of pre-service and in-service elementary school teachers. The participants were 176 freshmen and 260 seniors from an university of education and 234 teachers from 25 elementary schools located in Jeonju. Variables concerning pre-service teachers include their sex, career/study tracks (science or non-science), and the number of science courses taken either at high school or at university. Variables concerning in-service teachers include their sex, academic degree, the frequency and type of participation in science in-service training, and their teaching career experience. The Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument was used to measure teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. The results indicated that the personal science teaching efficacy belief scores of seniors were significantly lower than those of freshmen and in-service teachers, whereas the science teaching outcome expectancy scores of seniors were significantly higher than those of freshmen. Among variables investigated, sex, career/study track, the number of science courses taken at high school, and the frequency and type of participation in science in-service training were found to significantly influence teachers' science teaching efficacy beliefs.