Knowledge Bank

Recent studies have shown that students in some teacher education courses are lacking in incorporating certain aspects of equity pedagogy and mathematical practices into their assessments of children's mathematical content knowledge and reasoning skills. In particular, individuals were surveyed from an Early Childhood Education program at a regional campus of a large Research I institution, and the survey results suggest that these pre-service teachers were struggling to demonstrate their ability to encourage input from a diverse array of mathematical competencies as well as give students voice and incorporate their ideas in future lessons. In addition, these pre-service teachers seemed to struggle with demonstrating certain mathematical practices in their assessments, including evaluating their students on their ability to construct arguments and critique those of others. The data collected suggests these pre-service teachers are not instinctively choosing to seek out and give weight to the arguments of their own students. Instead, it appears that they are using a narrow perspective in approaching their own mathematical content as well as in interpreting their students’ logical reasoning without input from the students themselves. Toward the end of the study, we conclude that this could be a result of an incomplete content knowledge on the part of the pre-service teachers, or it could be related to their lack of familiarity with or understanding of equity pedagogy. A few promising teacher responses, on the other hand, are evidence that some pre-service teachers have a firm basis in pedagogical content knowledge grounded in equity pedagogy and are able to align the two in a way that supports the whole individual of a young learner.