Prospective elementary teachers’ aesthetic experience and relationships to mathematics

• Published in: Journal of mathematics teacher education Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 207 - 230
• Main Author: Chen, Rong-Ji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Data Analysis; Education; Elementary Education; Elementary School Teachers; Elementary Schools; Elementary Secondary Education; Grounded Theory; Interviews; Mathematical analysis; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematics Teachers; Philosophy of Education; Preservice Teachers; Reflection; Self Concept; Student Attitudes; Student Participation; Students; Teachers; Teaching and Teacher Education; Aesthetics; Agency; Identity; Affect; Relation to mathematics
• ISSN: 1386-4416; 1573-1820
• DOI: 10.1007/s10857-015-9329-4

Previous research has adopted various approaches to examining teachers’ and students’ relationships to mathematics. The current study extended this line of research and investigated six prospective elementary school teachers’ experiences in mathematics and how they saw themselves as learners of mathematics. One-on-one interviews with the participants were conducted, and their written reflections were collected. A grounded-theory approach and a framework for analyzing mathematics identities were adopted in data analysis. The findings showed that the participants’ development of obligations-to-oneself was associated with not only their opportunity to exercise conceptual agency but also their aesthetic experience with mathematics. Their views on themselves as learners of mathematics had cognitive, affective, and aesthetic dimensions. The findings suggest that teachers and students can engage in a reflection on their aesthetic involvement in doing mathematics. There is a need for a local theory of aesthetics in K-12 mathematics.