[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-588574-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-588574-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","toward-an-understanding-of-graduate-preservice-elementary-teachers-as-adult-learners-of-mathematics","Toward an Understanding of Graduate Preservice Elementary Teachers as Adult Learners of Mathematics","","Career-switchers returning to university for training as future elementary teachers form an expanding group of adult learners of mathematics. The study examines ten graduate preservice elementary teachers’ perceptions of their learning experiences, mathematics anxiety, and graduate coursework. Using mixed methods with interviews, anxiety measures, and survey data, the research links negative schooling experiences to avoidance of mathematics coursework and moderate-to-high test anxiety. Participants also express urgent demand for higher-quality upper-elementary preparation.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/toward-an-understanding-of-graduate-preservice-elementary-teachers-as-adult-learners-of-mathematics/588574/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/toward-an-understanding-of-graduate-preservice-elementary-teachers-as-adult-learners-of-mathematics/588574.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Rizky","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Who participated in the study and what was examined?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study involved ten graduate preservice elementary teachers. It examined their perceptions of mathematics learning experiences, mathematics anxiety, and aspects of graduate mathematics coursework.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What did the findings suggest about participants’ experiences over time?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Participants described negative experiences starting in adolescence and continuing into adulthood, including exam performance, tracking, and instruction in formal school mathematics.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What learning needs did participants report despite their struggles with mathematics?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Participants urgently wanted additional high-quality mathematics preparation focused on upper-elementary content, manipulative-based pedagogy, and current elementary mathematics curricula.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},588574,1792165108,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962085564807,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Welder, R.M. & Champion, J. (2011). Toward an understanding of graduate preservice elementary teachers as adult learners of mathematics. Adults Learning Mathematics: An International Journal, 6(1), 20-40.  \nToward an Understanding of Graduate Preservice Elementary Teachers as Adult Learners of Mathematics  \nRachael M. Welder  \nHunter College, The City University of New York  \nNew York, United States  \n[rwelder@hunter.cuny.edu](rwelder@hunter.cuny.edu)  \nJoe Champion  \nTexas A&M, Corpus Christi  \nTexas, United States  \n[joechampion@gmail.com](joechampion@gmail.com)  \nAbstract  \nCareer-switchers who are returning to university for training as future elementary schoolteachers join an important and increasing group of adult learners of mathematics. These graduate preservice elementary teachers often place a high value on learning mathematics because of its prominent role in their prospective careers, but their learning often requires overcoming histories of personal struggles with mathematics. This inquiry used a mixed methods designed and focused on ten participants’perceptions of their experiences as learners of mathematics, anxiety regarding mathematics, and graduate mathematics coursework. All of the participants left professional careers to join a full-time graduate teacher preparation program in New York City. Bridging research from adult education and teacher education, we analysed interview transcripts, mathematics anxiety measures, and survey data using mixed methods both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The findings show that, starting in adolescence, and continuing into adulthood, participants described negative experiences with exam performance, tracking, and instruction during formal school mathematics. Participants perceived these struggles as contributing to patterns of avoiding mathematics coursework and experiencing moderate-to-high levels of test mathematics anxiety. In spite of, or perhaps partly because of, their personal struggles with mathematics, the participants described urgently wanting additional high-quality mathematics preparation focused on upper-elementary content, manipulative-based pedagogy, and current elementary mathematics curricula.  \nKey words: mathematics; preservice elementary teachers; graduate education.  \nIntroduction  \nNon-traditional teacher preparation programs were initially established in the United States during the 1980s in response to projected teacher shortages and have steadily grown to become  \n20 Adults Learning Mathematics – An International Journal  \nan important source of teachers in the U.S. (Humphrey, Wechsler, & Hough, 2005) . For instance, non-traditional programs produce nearly a third (6,590 of 20,839) of the newly certified teachers in New York City, or about 20% of the approximately 33,000 new U.S. teachers prepared through non-traditional programs annually (United States Department of Education, 2009) .  \nAround the world, education faculty employ standards for mathematical competency to selectively admit students into teaching programs (Burton, 1987) . However, because of the immense need for teachers in inner city and under-served schools, teachers are often recruited without an acceptable level of mathematics competency and are expected to develop this knowledge through their teacher preparation program (Ashun & Reinink, 2009) . Yet, in nontraditional programs like those in New York City, the mathematical preparation of elementary teachers is particularly challenging because typically students are only required to complete one mathematics course of any kind; and, analyses of syllabi have revealed huge variation in the content covered across these single mathematics courses (Boyd, et al., 2008) .  \nImproving the mathematical preparation of elementary teachers is a major concern of policy makers and educational researchers (Adler, Ball, Krainer, Lin, & Novotna, 2005) . This concern extends to a need to better understand better the beliefs preservi","cbCainnRxAWPRSZK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainnRxAWPRSZK","pdf",319106,21,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Non-traditional teacher preparation programs\n## Admissions and mathematical competency standards\n## Challenges in elementary mathematics preparation","[{\"question\":\"Who participated in the study and what was examined?\",\"answer\":\"The study involved ten graduate preservice elementary teachers. It examined their perceptions of mathematics learning experiences, mathematics anxiety, and aspects of graduate mathematics coursework.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the findings suggest about participants’ experiences over time?\",\"answer\":\"Participants described negative experiences starting in adolescence and continuing into adulthood, including exam performance, tracking, and instruction in formal school mathematics.\"},{\"question\":\"What learning needs did participants report despite their struggles with mathematics?\",\"answer\":\"Participants urgently wanted additional high-quality mathematics preparation focused on upper-elementary content, manipulative-based pedagogy, and current elementary mathematics curricula.\"}]","Toward an Understanding of Graduate Preservice Elementary Teachers as Adult Learners of Mathematics | PDF",1792065524,53]