An Aspirational Approach to the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers
MAA Notes volume by James Álvarez, Elizabeth Arnold, and Elizabeth Burroughs
The undergraduate preparation of prospective secondary mathematics teachers requires attention to their fluent understanding of how to interact with other human beings and their mathematical work. How can we prepare teachers in mathematics content coursework to apply their mathematical understandings to the human context of teaching? This question is at the heart of An Aspirational Approach to the Mathematical Preparation of Teachers, the result of a collaborative effort between mathematics teacher educators and mathematicians to address secondary mathematics teaching in courses for undergraduate mathematics majors. Part of the MAA Notes series, this book provides nine lessons, aligning with courses in single variable calculus, introduction to statistics, discrete mathematics or introduction to proof, and abstract algebra, that include applications of mathematics to teaching. The lessons blend the study of undergraduate mathematics, school mathematics, and teaching in a way that does not privilege mathematics content over teaching or vice versa. Read an excerpt from Chapter 1.