| This qualitative study was designed to explore five female elementary school teachers' experiences with knowing mathematics as learners and as teachers. Two interviews were conducted, transcribed, and imported into the qualitative software program FolioViews for analysis. Stories were coded using emergent themes, and explored using the epistemological framework of Women's Ways of Knowing (Belenky, et al., 1986).; The learning experiences of teachers were similar despite a large range of ages. The classroom atmospheres in which they described learning mathematics were predominantly traditional, yet the teachers' reactions to learning were different. Various epistemological stances emerged and were identified as a result of data analysis using the framework established by Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule. One participant was predominantly a received knower, another was predominantly a subjective knower, and the other three were a mixture of separate procedural knowers and connected procedural knowers.; The teaching stories of participants varied less. All participants described themselves within a predominantly procedural stance of knowing mathematics as teachers, however it was not entirely clear how those positioned in the earlier stances as learners were able to expand their ways of knowing mathematics as teachers. Possible influences for the shift in epistemological stances from learning to teaching include the support of colleagues, a willingness to continue learning through continuous professional development, pre-packaged curriculum guides, an appreciation of students' voices, and shared authority for learning in the classroom.; It was determined that an autobiographically oriented interview was a useful tool for exploring the mathematical experiences of teachers and is recommended for use in mathematics education courses. The epistemological framework of Women's Ways of Knowing offered a unique lens to explore teachers' mathematical experiences and should be used in future studies to explore university mathematics professors', male elementary school teachers' and elementary school students' experiences with mathematics. |
