The purpose of this research was to (1) develop scales for measuring teaching practices and assessment practices in mathematics class; (2) identify the profile of teaching practices and assessment practices in mathematics class; and (3) examine the consistency between relevant factors in teaching practices and assessment practices in mathematics class. The methods of cross-sectional surveys and a scale development study were used to achieve that purpose. The participants in this research included two sample groups of primary school teachers in Jakarta. The first sample consisted of 252 teachers and the second sample consisted of 325 teachers. This research found that there were two factors in each dimension of teachers’ practices in mathematics class. Teaching practices included the relational and instrumental practices, while the assessment practices included the assessment for learning and assessment of learning. This research also found that most of the teachers leaned toward traditional practices for both teaching practices and assessment practices, and that there was a consistency between relevant factors in those teaching and assessment practices. A more detailed discussion can be found in the findings and discussion section.
A characteristic of the persons was very potential to affect the beliefs they held. This study examines whether there was a significant difference between the beliefs factors with characteristics such as gender, teaching experience, certification status, and grade level assignments. There were 325 primary school teachers in East Jakarta who participated in this research. MANOVA was applied to analyze the data. The findings of this study indicate that only on teaching experience, there was a significant difference between the beliefs held by the teachers, i.e. teachers who have 11-20 years teaching experience were more likely to think absolute than constructivism. Moreover, there was no difference between each belief they held with the other characteristics.
The gap between theory and practice has become a critical issue in the effort of improving the learning of mathematics. Beliefs may have been one of the contributing factors to the widening of the gap between theory and practice. Therefore, examining the relationship between beliefs and practices in mathematics is crucial to gain an overview of the preparation of potential teacher candidates and the development of teacher education in the future. This study aims to examine the relationship between beliefs held by pre-service elementary school teachers and the instructional practices in mathematics class. This study employs the case study that focuses on one of the pre-service elementary school teachers who is undertaking practical field experience in the 2015/2016 academic year. The findings of this study indicate that the instructional practices do not necessarily reflect the beliefs that are held. On the other hand, beliefs about the nature of mathematics influence more dominant than the other beliefs against instructional practices.