Share Paper: Stop-Motion Animation as a Tool for Assessing Preservice Early Childhood and Elementary Teachers’ Understanding of Connections among Mathematical Representations and Computational Algorithms

  1. Amanda Thomas, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, United States
  2. Kelley Buchheister, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, United States
Friday, March 22 12:00-12:30 PM Wilshire A

Abstract: This paper describes ways in which stop-motion animation can be used to assess preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) understanding of mathematics concepts and procedures. The study draws from research literature about computational fluency, mathematical representations, and stop-motion animation as an educational tool. The study took place in two mathematics methods courses for early childhood and elementary PSTs. Thirty-five PSTs used stop-motion animations to demonstrate their understanding of computational strategies and connected mathematical representations. Preliminary findings suggest that stop-motion animation is a promising tool for revealing PSTs’ understanding and for supporting them in connecting computational algorithms and mathematical representations.