Relationship between pre-service mathematics teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and instructional practices in China

Abstract

In this paper we examine the relationship between teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and instructional practices based on a study with 495 Chinese pre-service mathematics teachers. The results indicate that Chinese pre-service mathematics teachers tend to hold mixed beliefs about the nature of mathematics, and a constructivist view about mathematics teaching and learning, and that they are inclined to report that their teaching is inquiry-oriented. Mathematical content knowledge (MCK) and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) were found not to correlate with the teachers’ self-reported instructional practice, in contrast to pre-service mathematics teachers’ beliefs, which showed a stronger association with their self-reported inquiry-oriented instructional practice. Moreover, pre-service teachers’ dynamic beliefs about the nature of mathematics, and constructivist beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning, acted as mediators between pre-service mathematics teachers’ MCK, MPCK and instructional practice respectively.