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Introduction
Teacher education studies have focused on teaching efficacy beliefs. This is because teaching efficacy beliefs influence a teachers effectiveness, attitude and behavior. The self-efficacy concept describes the process whereby people develop the ability to organize and accomplish important tasks first. In this model, people are supposed to develop their own capacity to reach the essential learning degrees (Albayrak, 2011). Therefore, the given paper aims at studying the development of mathematics self-efficacy in pre-service elementary teachers who participate in mathematics education methods courses.
Methodology
This paper will study the effects of the methods that are adopted by mathematics teachers to teach their courses. The Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument will be administered to students taking the elementary mathematics course. A survey will be conducted to help identify how the course is administered to students through demonstrations, classroom discussions, and direct instructions. In addition, the study will gather statistical and quantitative results from a sample of pre-service elementary teachers through a questionnaire I will fill out before and after each course. In the quantitative phase, I will analyze the teachers responses to a mathematics teachers self-efficacy beliefs. In this case, the survey will help to identify a sample of teachers whose mathematics teaching self-efficacy beliefs are at high/low extremes. Moreover, paired sample ttests will be used to analyze the data obtained and indicate the methods that teachers should use to teach mathematics appropriately when they incorporate efficacy beliefs in their teaching strategies.
Discussion
Efficacy beliefs usually influence the manner in which people think, behave and, become motivated. Efficacy beliefs also help determine how much effort teachers should apply during the education process, what kind of student behavior teachers should approve of and how they can maintain the approved type of behavior among students, and the unfavorable experiences that teachers can face (Albayrak, 2011).
Kazempour (2008) makes it clear that the self-efficacy concept and teacher-efficacy are related. He argues that teachers who are confident in their mathematical abilities are able to influence the learning methods of their students. Therefore, teachers should help the students focus on the lesson topic and absorb new information during the studying process. Moreover, teachers should provide different types of feedback to use the appropriate the learning methods and help students achieve good results in learning. Therefore, teachers should believe that they are capable of improving the learning methods with different types of students in a classroom. Studies show that students performance depends considerably on a teachers efficacy (Kazempour, 2008). For these reasons, efficacy influences achievement, motivation, and the students self-appraisal.
Teacher efficacy has two dimensions: personal teaching efficacy and teaching outcome expectancy. Personal teaching efficacy refers to a tutors belief in his own ability to teach mathematics in an efficient manner. On the other hand, teaching outcome expectancy refers to the belief that a teachers mode of teaching is capable of influencing a students mode of learning in a positive manner. In this case, teachers believe that external factors such as family background, parental influence, IQ, school conditions, and home environment do not influence a students performance in mathematics once a teacher uses the appropriate strategy to enhance the students ability to learn and digest new information. The above-mentioned can be considered an adequate use of a teachers self-efficacy (Cone, 2009).
Research shows that teachers who have high teaching efficacy create the learning environment that encourages students think productively. As Kazempour explains, teachers with high self-efficacy use such strategies as student questioning, brainstorming, and class discussions (Kazempour 401). By doing this, teachers improve the performance of their students regardless of whether they come from challenging home backgrounds. Therefore, self-efficient teachers use student-centered approaches that stress the role of students in the learning process and make them feel that they contribute to the learning process as well. For example, in the course of a discussion, the student will feel that his/her opinion matters and, therefore, will be interested in the subject (Bursal, 2007).
References
Albayrak, M. (2011). The effect of methods of teaching mathematics course on mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs of elementary pre-service mathematics teachers. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 16(1), 183-190.
Bursal, M. (2007). The impact of science methods courses on preservice elementary teachers science teaching self-efficacy beliefs: Case studies from Turkey and the United States. Minnesota: University of Minnesota.
Cone, N. (2009). Pre-service elementary teachers self-efficacy beliefs about equitable science teaching: Does service learning make a difference? Journal of Elementary Science Education, 21(2), 25-34.
Kazempour, M. (2008). Exploring attitudes, beliefs, and self efficacy of pre-service elementary teachers enrolled in a science methods course and factors responsible for possible changes. New York: ProQuest.
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