Meanings, Dimensions, and Categories of Mathematics Teacher Beliefs: A Navigation through the Literature

Abstract

This paper aimed to discuss the meanings, dimensions, and categories of teacher beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics. I reviewed the relevant literature about teacher beliefs in general, beliefs about mathematics, and beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning in particular. Based on the review of the literature, I outlined the meanings of teacher beliefs and conceptualized three dimensions of teacher beliefs – affective dimension, cognitive dimension, and pedagogical dimension. Then, I discussed three viewpoints to observe teacher beliefs – relational, institutional, and praxis lenses. I utilized these lenses to categorize belief constructs into three classes of beliefs about mathematics, teaching mathematics, and learning mathematics. These classes’ included-instrumentalist, constructivist, and integral beliefs. I addressed the pedagogical implications of these categorical beliefs in the end.