Beliefs hold by pre-school prospective teachers toward mathematics and its teaching

The purpose of this study was to investigate the beliefs held by pre-school prospective teachers toward mathematics and its teaching and the changes in their beliefs (if any) following their participation in a one semester course. 166 prospective teachers were asked to fill in an open-ended questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the course. Data analysis shows that many prospective teachers hold negative beliefs toward mathematics, but less negative beliefs toward its teaching in pre-school. Comparison of the two questionnaires shows an improvement in the way prospective teachers refer to mathematics and its teaching. © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Masterprof team