Date of Conferral
7-10-2024
Date of Award
July 2024
Degree
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
School
Education
Advisor
Jennifer Seymour
Abstract
With the changes in Common Core State Standards, it was essential to explore how elementary pre-service teachers’ sense of fractions is developing and their thoughts about how to teach fractions. A gap in practice exists because it is unknown how pre-service elementary teachers, after student-teaching, perceive their level of in-practice knowledge in (a) knowledge of content and (b) knowledge of pedagogy in fraction operations. The three research questions centered on content knowledge, pedagogy knowledge, and knowledge of students, and the study was guided by the concepts of Lee Shulman’s categories of teacher knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service elementary teachers’, after student-teaching, perceptions of their knowledge or gaps in knowledge in content and pedagogical approaches to fraction operations. This basic qualitative study had a purposeful sample of 12 pre-service elementary teachers across the United States who had completed student teaching and taught fraction operations. Qualitative interviews and thematic analysis were employed. The results showed that pre-service elementary teachers had knowledge of the addition and subtraction content of fraction operations. Pre-service elementary teachers learned instructional methods to teach addition and subtraction but not for multiplication and division of fractions in their pedagogy classes. Before student teaching, pre-service elementary teachers had non-existent or very minimal pedagogy (student knowledge) in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions. Teacher education programs must examine their curriculum outcomes and ensure they provide pre-service elementary teachers with opportunities to learn content and pedagogical knowledge of fraction operations so they will be successful in student teaching and in their future classrooms.
Recommended Citation
Salgado, Elizabeth, "Exploring Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ After Student-Teaching Content Knowledge and Teaching Knowledge of Fraction Operations" (2024). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 16080.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/16080
