Collaborative Effort to Develop Middle School Preservice Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge

This article describes reflections of two mathematicians and a mathematics teacher educator who collaborated on the development and implementation of courses (probability and statistics connections, number concept connections, and middle school mathematics methods) for middle school mathematics preservice teachers. The instructors of the courses, two in mathematics and one in mathematics education, worked together to more explicitly link course materials, assignments, and the pedagogical approaches. Collectively, the courses were designed to address the five components of preservice teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (PT-MKT), and to model effective teaching practices. Using their collective experiences co-planning and implementing these course adjustments were made in the subsequent year. The instructors were pleased by their implementation and student outcomes in all three courses.

We describe how each component of the PT-MKT framework was approached in these courses and discuss challenges experienced by the instructors, who were part of a larger effort to develop and implement a middle school teacher preparation program. The information shared is based on data collected as part of a program evaluation effort, and is bolstered by the instructors’ recollection of events. Overall, the instructors enhanced the curricula and their instructional practices and found that the attention placed on developing PT-MKT support the mathematical development of middle school mathematics preservice teachers.