Pre-service Elementary and Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Noticing in Teaching Demonstration

This study compared and analyzed what pre-service elementary and secondary mathematics teachers noticed in teaching demonstrations. For this purpose, pre-service elementary and secondary mathematics teachers observed the teaching demonstrations of other pre-service teachers and wrote a journal on attending, interpreting, and deciding. The findings indicated that pre-service elementary and secondary mathematics teachers showed notable differences in their noticing. For the most part, pre-service elementary teachers paid attention to the facilitating strategies for learners, whereas pre-service secondary mathematics teachers paid attention to the mathematical tasks of lesson content. In addition, pre-service elementary teachers interpreted and presented the alternative ideas for reconstruction of the facilitating strategies for learners, whereas preservice secondary mathematics teachers suggested the alternative ideas in consideration of the effect of the mathematical tasks. The findings provide insight on the significance of noticing with reflective thinking. Based on the results, the researchers suggested the directions for pre-service teacher education to better develop teaching expertise in mathematics education.