Open AccessBibliotherapy: A Framework for Understanding Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Affective Responses to Learning and Teaching Mathematics
Author(s) -
Sue Wilson,
Stephen J. Thornton
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
southeast asian mathematics education journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2721-8546
pISSN - 2089-4716
DOI - 10.46517/seamej.v2i1.17
Subject(s) - bibliotherapy , enthusiasm , mathematics education , construct (python library) , psychology , school teachers , service (business) , process (computing) , pedagogy , computer science , social psychology , psychotherapist , programming language , economy , economics , operating system
This paper advocates bibliotherapy as a powerful tool through which teacher educators can analyze and interpret the affective responses of pre-service primary teachers. Pre-service teachers analyzed readings about school students’ learning, and reflected on and reconstructed their understanding of their own school experiences. This process facilitated a meta-affective change that enabled the pre-service teachers to reconsider their assessment of their capacity to learn and understand mathematics. We describe this change using the stages of bibliotherapy. This change enabled the pre-service teachers to approach their future teaching of mathematics with greater enthusiasm, and empowered them to construct positive projective identities.