Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Modern Research in Education, Teaching and Learning
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Training Mathematics Teachers To Teach In The 6th Year Elementary School
Mercedes Carvalho
ABSTRACT:
This article discusses a teaching experiment conducted in the pre-service training subject within the Mathematics Teaching program, which is designed to train specialized teachers. Generalist educators are trained in the Pedagogy program. In Brazilian universities, there is usually no interaction between the two programs. Consequently, it is an opportunity for future mathematics teachers to have training practice in both fifth and sixth grades of elementary school, so that they could know how students evolve in their mathematics learning. During the early stage of their training practice, the future teachers visited the fifth-grade classroom, had a conversation with the pedagogue – the generalist teacher –, talked to students and developed a cycle of mathematical games. At the next stage, trainees went to the sixth-grade classroom, interviewed the mathematics teacher and developed a cycle of mathematical games in line with the contents offered at this level. An analysis of future teachers’ reports revealed a highly positive experience for these prospective educators. They observed that fifth graders showed greater interest towards mathematics and more affection than sixth graders. Moreover, they concluded that the work to be conducted in the sixth grade must be carefully planned because sixth graders only had generalist teachers until the fifth grade, so the trainees understood that as they will be sixth graders’ first mathematics teachers, they could either successfully captivate them to the beauty of mathematics or scare them.
keywords: mathematics education; mathematics teachers; mathematics teaching program; mathematics learning; mathematical game