Is Tutoring Teaching? Exploring Tutoring's Potential to Improve Mathematics Teacher Education
Date
2017-05
Authors
Rasche, Alexander N.
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Abstract
This study investigated the tutoring practices of mathematics tutors working in one university tutoring center and the corresponding rationale exhibited by the mathematics tutors. This study illustrates how the tutoring practices of mathematics tutors align with the Eight Mathematics Teaching Practices outlined in NCTM’s recent publication <i>Principles to actions: Ensuring mathematical success for all</i>. The three participants were chosen from among five mathematics tutors who volunteered for this study, and were selected because they each had a different amount of tutoring experience and because they each had no prior teaching experiences outside of tutoring nor had they taken any courses about teaching. Data were collected by means of observations of the participants’ tutoring and interviews focused on asking the participants to explain various decisions they were observed to make while tutoring. The observations and interviews were analyzed using qualitative coding. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to mathematics education research focused on how to utilize tutoring experiences as a means of providing pre-service mathematics teachers with authentic opportunities to practice the work of teaching mathematics.
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Keywords
Experiential learning, Situated cognition, Teacher education, Mathematics teaching education, Tutoring, Tutoring experiences
Citation
Rasche, A. N. (2017). <i>Is tutoring teaching? Exploring tutoring's potential to improve mathematics teacher education</i> (Unpublished dissertation). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.