An Evaluation of Mathematics Grounding Activity Teachers’ Efficacy

Abstract

Preparing high-quality mathematics teachers to promote students’ meaningful learning has gained much attention in Taiwan, where the “Just Do Math (JDM)” Project was correspondently initiated in 2014.  This study aimed to evaluate targeted mathematics grounding activity teachers’ (MGA-teachers) the efficacy ratings for clarifying the effectiveness of the JDM professional development (PD) programs.  A two-year “mixed method approach” was employed: First, a qualitative task analysis of the MGA-teachers PD programs was conducted for both understanding how these PD programs were executed and constructing the MGA-teachers’ efficacy instrument for further quantitative investigations.  Secondly, the “JDM MGA-Teacher Efficacy Instrument” was employed to examine the status and possible differences of targeted MGA-teachers’ efficacy.  There were 408 MGA-teachers participated in this study, where the efficacy ratings of these teachers were examined by corresponding statistical analyses.  The findings were reported in two parts: Based on the findings of the qualitative task analysis, certain differences practically existed where various teaching approaches were employed by different MGA-instructors associated with a variety of content were provided in every session of the “2-day PD activity”.  Besides, according to the quantitative findings, it was found that the targeted MGA-teachers’ efficacy belief is averagely at an acceptable level (i.e. around 70%~75%).  It was also found that the experience and willingness of attending MGA PD activities and hosting fun-math camps had a significant influence on the positive development of their efficacy belief.  Finally, discussions of the findings and recommendations were proposed for future study and further improvements of the JDM PD programs.