EFFECTS ON BELIEFS ABOUT PROBLEM SOLVING AND ITS INSTRUCTION AS A RESULT OF CAPSTONE COURSES

Cheryl Roddick

San Jose State University

roddick@mathcs.sjsu.edu

Joanne Rossi Becker

San Jose State University

becker@mathcs.sjsu.edu

Barbara J. Pence

San Jose State University

pence@mathcs.sjsu.edu

This study focused on evaluating the effects of capstone courses in problem solving on students’ beliefs about the role of problem solving in teaching mathematics. The two capstone courses were designed for prospective secondary school teachers and aimed to develop a deeper understanding of problem solving across the strands of mathematics (Roddick, Becker, & Pence, 2000).

Six people who had taken both courses in problem solving during the academic year 1998-99 were the participants in the study; three of these participants were teaching in some capacity during the course of the study. Both written and interview data were collected over a period of 12 months.

The six participants in this study seemed to fall on a continuum when examined from the perspective of changes in their beliefs about problem solving and its role in instruction. Two participants fell on one end of the continuum indicating minimal change, while one was classified towards the opposite end, indicating substantial change. The other three fell in between these extremes.

References

Roddick, C., Becker, J.R. and Pence, B.J. (2000). Capstone Courses in Problem Solving for Prospective Secondary Teachers: Effects on Beliefs and Teaching Practices. In Maasataka Koyama (Ed), Proceedings of the twenty-fourth conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Hiroshima, Japan: Hiroshima University.