Using hermeneutic phenomenology to investigate pre-service secondary mathematics teachers' beliefs about mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics

Abstract

This research used an interpretive paradigm and a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology to investigate matehmatical belief systems of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers enrolled in a small private mid-western university. A goal of this research was to investigate the different types of beliefs regarding the nature of mathematics that exited among these pre-service teachers. This research alos investigated how these beliefs regarding the nature of mathematics interacted with participants' beliefs regarding teaching and learning of mathematics. All participants completed a likert-type survey and created a personal metaphor for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Three participants were selected to participate in a series of three interviews. The findings indicated that the pre-service teachers who participated in this study held a variety of philosophical beliefs about mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics. Likert-type survey findings revealed that traditional views about mathematics were held by most participants. All three participants who were selected for the interview process held at least some degree of alignment with traditional perspective of mathematics as a set of rules and algorithms to be mastered. The findings provided insight that may be useful to anyone interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics.