Abstract

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics endorses a constructivist approach to teaching and learning mathemat-ics. This approach is often inconsistent with the instructional models in which preservice teachers are familiar. To help en-hance a constructivist-based mathematics teaching methods course, preservice teachers participated in an email activity linking them with elementary children in a mathematical problem solving activity. The involvement of preservice teachers with high and low mathematical anxiety levels was carefully observed in order to determine whether participa-tion in the activity helped prepare them to teach mathemat-ics. The study documented the preservice teachers' percep-tion of the activity as authentic (Myers, 1993). The analysis indicates that participation inemail activities can be authentic to the preservice teachers and that their participation can help prepare them to teach mathematics. Each case study participant was affected differently; these findings are shared in the paper.

Citation

Poole, D.M. (2000). An Email Activity: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Authenticity. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 8(1), 13-28. Charlottesville, VA: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Retrieved May 25, 2022 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/8087/.

© 2000 Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education

Keywords

• Mathematics
• mathematics teaching
• Teachers
• Teaching Methods