Investigating Student Teachers’ Contemporary Mathematics Practices of Engagement, such as "Try This," as They Begin Their Mathematical Lessons

This study explores the extent to which pre-service teachers are able to implement contemporary practices in teaching mathematics during their practicum. The main focus is on the importance of prior engagement of students in learning mathematical concepts. The total population of 150 student teachers from both the Colleges of Education, Paro College of Education (PCE) and Samtse College of Education (SCE), was targeted for this study. However, only 60 participants could actually return the questionnaires. A mixed-method comprising of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies was used. Research tools such as survey questionnaires (quantitative) along with a few open-ended questions, followed by lesson plans and interviews (qualitative) were used to collect the data. The findings from this study tend to reveal that although the student teachers are in favour of the contemporary ideas/approach of teaching and learning of mathematics, they do not seem to have practiced it while they were in a teaching practicum. The findings cast doubt on whether preservice teachers are able to drive changes for improvement in the teaching and learning of mathematics in mathematics classrooms. The benefit of this study was expected to be very relevant not only for the authorities to consider the effectiveness of the contemporary practices of teaching and learning of mathematics education in those two colleges of education, but also in Bhutanese schools using the current mathematics curriculum.