TENSION BETWEEN OLD AND NEW: MATHEMATICS TEACHERSʹ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Research studies showed that teachersʹ beliefs are important factors influencing their teaching practices. While some of these studies showed that there was a consistency between teachersʹ beliefs and practices, others found that there were inconsistencies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between mathematical beliefs and teaching practices of elementary mathematics teachers. The mathematical beliefs and teaching practices of 3 elementary mathematics teachers were investigated using different data collection techniques. After observing each teacherʹs teaching for 6 hours, semi-structured interviews were conducted. During interviews, teachers were asked to complete a belief scale. After analyzing teachersʹ beliefs and practices, the consistencies among them were investigated. Results showed that there were inconsistencies among the teachersʹ beliefs and practices. All teachers taught in a traditional manner, but they portrayed different beliefs. In addition, it was found that teachers were stuck in between traditional and new way of teaching.