skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


This content will become publicly available on November 7, 2025

Title: Preservice secondary school mathematics teachers' perceptions toward students with disabilities: A preliminary investigation
Better understanding preservice teachers’ current perceptions toward students with disabilities will allow mathematics educators to create specific strategies for helping students to develop perceptions promoting inclusive classroom environments. To access these perceptions, we developed an online survey that asks respondents about their knowledge of disabilities, their experiences with people with disabilities, and decisions they would make based on classroom scenarios that involve students with disabilities. We gave this survey to 14 preservice secondary school teachers (PSTs). Key findings include five PSTs presented an inclusive perception toward students with disabilities, seven PSTs presented an ambiguous perception and the perceptions of two PSTs remained unknown. All but the latter two PSTs provided at least some evidence of their willingness to fully include students with disabilities in their mathematics classrooms.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1720613
PAR ID:
10579185
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Publisher / Repository:
Kent State University
Date Published:
Format(s):
Medium: X
Location:
Cleveland, OH
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Lambert, T; Moss, D (Ed.)
    Negative perceptions held by teachers toward students with disabilities create environments that make students feel uncomfortable and often incapable of participating actively in classrooms. Much of the research about these perceptions is focused on teachers of students with learning disabilities, which leaves out teachers’ perceptions toward students with other disabilities. We are developing a responsive online survey to access what mathematics teachers identify as disabilities and their behavior toward students with disabilities in their classroom. In this paper, we describe the process we have developed for constructing this survey. We also share our conceptualization of the relationship between teachers’ perceptions and equity affirmations toward disability, and the results of applying that conceptualization to our research context. 
    more » « less
  2. Calls for a “practice-based” approach to teacher education have become common in scholarship on teacher education, and preservice-teaching (PST) mathematics programs are increasingly heeding this call. Practice-based teacher education (PBTE) moves beyond standard approaches to teacher education in which PSTs learn about teaching in ways they are then expected to apply in practice and toward an approach that provides PSTs opportunities to gain experience in particular core practices in ways that approximate enactment in the classroom. A growing body of research suggests that teachers’ responses, including the questions they ask, can help students’ develop content knowledge and proficiency in mathematics and science practices in the classroom. However, despite evidence that PSTs can notice students’ thinking in various activities in their preparation programs, it is not clear that they are sufficiently well-prepared to propose quality responses before entering the classroom. In this paper, we describe two different approaches that we have taken to provide support for quality teacher questioning in the LessonSketch environment. From our results, we develop a hypothesis that a pedagogical approach that primes novices to notice model questioning can support a stance of focusing on the substance of students’ thinking and probing rather than guiding students’ thinking in their proposed questions. 
    more » « less
  3. null (Ed.)
    Increasingly in K–12 schools, students are gaining access to computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS). This access, however, is not always extended to students with disabilities. One way to increase CT and CS (CT/CS) exposure for students with disabilities is through preparing special education teachers to do so. In this study, researchers explore exposing special education preservice teachers to the ideas of CT/CS in the context of a mathematics methods course for students with disabilities or those at risk of disability. Through analyzing lesson plans and reflections from 31 preservice special education teachers, the researchers learned that overall emerging promise exists with regard to the limited exposure of preservice special education teachers to CT/CS in mathematics. Specifically, preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to include CT/CS in math lesson plans and showed understanding of how CT/CS might enhance instruction with students with disabilities via reflections on these lessons. The researchers, however, also found a need for increased experiences and opportunities for preservice special education teachers with CT/CS to more positively impact access for students with disabilities. 
    more » « less
  4. Increasingly in K–12 schools, students are gaining access to computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS). This access, however, is not always extended to students with disabilities. One way to increase CT and CS (CT/CS) exposure for students with disabilities is through preparing special education teachers to do so. In this study, researchers explore exposing special education preservice teachers to the ideas of CT/CS in the context of a mathematics methods course for students with disabilities or those at risk of disability. Through analyzing lesson plans and reflections from 31 preservice special education teachers, the researchers learned that overall emerging promise exists with regard to the limited exposure of preservice special education teachers to CT/CS in mathematics. Specifically, preservice teachers demonstrated the ability to include CT/CS in math lesson plans and showed understanding of how CT/CS might enhance instruction with students with disabilities via reflections on these lessons. The researchers, however, also found a need for increased experiences and opportunities for preservice special education teachers with CT/CS to more positively impact access for students with disabilities. 
    more » « less
  5. Gestures are an integral component of mathematics classroom discourse. There is a need to classify the types of gestures that teachers use according to their purposes towards supporting and extending students’ mathematical thinking. We analyzed 16 algebra tutoring sessions between pre-service teachers (PSTs) and high school students to categorize the PSTs’ gestures. We identified 10 categories of PST gestures that we roughly organized into three supercategories: gestures that facilitate shared attention and communication, gestures that emphasize written visual representations, and gestures that support verbal explanations. A taxonomy of gestures based on their purposes will enable further analyses of teacher gesturing and help preservice and practicing teachers use gestures in more purposeful ways. 
    more » « less