A National Comparison of Pre-service Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs about Mathematics: The case of Turkey

Abstract

The aim of present study is to reveal pre-service elementary mathematics teachers' (PEMTs) beliefs about mathematics in national perspective and to compare the regional differences. The sample of study was composed of 1418 PEMTs enrolled in 21 different universities as 4th year students in Turkey. 12 regions determined in Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) Level 1 were considered during the selection of sample universities. As data collection tools, "beliefs about the nature of mathematics", "beliefs about mathematics learning" and "beliefs about the achievement in mathematics" scales which were developed in TEDS-M study and contain a total of five factors were used. The collected data were analyzed to descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA test using SPSS packet software. The findings indicated that PEMTs commonly have dynamic views toward nature of mathematics in the context of universities and regions. However, the static view representing the traditional aspect of mathematics also had a reasonably high percentile. Significant differences among universities and regions were determined in terms of beliefs about nature of mathematics, learning mathematics and mathematics achievement. To identify the possible reasons of the differences, it is suggested to carry out in-depth qualitative investigations to examine the variables such as courses and their contents, classroom applications in education faculties on the basis of universities and regions.