Exploratory investigation of the beliefs and practices of elementary mathematics teachers of high and low performing schools in Metro Manila

• Main Author: Villena, Rosemarievic G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2004
• Subjects: Mathematics teachers—Philippines—Metro Manila; Mathematics > Study and teaching (Elementary)—Philippines—Metro Manila; Elementary school teachers—Philippines—Metro Manila; Elementary school teaching—Philippines—Metro Manila; Science and Mathematics Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/29; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=etd_doctoral
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explores the beliefs and practices of elementary mathematics teachers in high and low performing schools in Metro Manila during the school year 2002-2003. Beliefs focus on the goals of mathematics education, nature of mathematics teaching and mathematics learning, and content knowledge, while practices are tangible classroom activities of the teacher. Category of schools on the other hand, is based on their performance in the Math sub-component test of the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT). The study considered the two contrasting beliefs in mathematics education as namely SMT and IMT, as discussed by Bernardo (2000a), which are the School Mathematics Tradition (SMT) and Inquiry Mathematics Tradition (IMT). Teachers' beliefs were established through questionnaires and interviews, while their practices were established through classroom observations. The data gathered were described and analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, Wilcoxon test for independent means and Spearman rho correlation. Results show that the elementary math teachers strongly believe in both IMT and SMT. When grouped accordingly, the high performing school (HPS) teachers' beliefs on the nature of math learning lean towards IMT while the low performing school (LPS) teachers' beliefs lean towards SMT. In terms of beliefs about the nature of math learning, the beliefs of HPS and LPS teachers are significantly different. Meanwhile, the elementary math teachers' practices fall midway the SMT and IMT. When grouped accordingly, the HPS teachers' practices lean towards IMT while the LPS teachers' practices lean towards SMT. Moreover, the teaching practices of HPS and LPS teachers are significantly different based on the results of Wilcoxon W test. Qualitative analysis further shows that tere are differences in the HPS and LPS teachers' practices. In terms of relationships, when the teachers are grouped according to the performance level of their schools, their beliefs and practices are not significantly related. This implies that the teacher-participants' practices are influenced by external factors other than their own beliefs. In addition, the length of math teaching experience of teachers and the degree of exposure to seminar/workshops are not significantly related to their beliefs and practices. Thus, the study recommends among others, the conduct of in-service programs that will encourage the active examination of teacher's beliefs and practices. Likewise, it recommends further analysis of the practices of teachers with coherent beliefs that lean towards one tradition only : either SMT or IMT.