Abstract

As an important approach to learning and teaching, project-based learning (PBL) addressed in new
curriculum reform at the middle school level in China raises the need for change in teachers’ beliefs, since
teachers’ beliefs are important factors that influence their acceptance, adaptation, and implementation of
PBL. Using qualitative content analysis, this study examined 23 PT (Prospective teachers’ ) perceived
beliefs shifts through participating in a systematic PBL program at a university. Data were collected from
two open questionnaires for pre- and post-tests, respectively, which were about the beliefs about the
nature of mathematics (BNM), beliefs about learning mathematics (BLM), and beliefs about teaching
mathematics (BTM). The results revealed that prospective teachers’ beliefs about BNM, BLM, and BTM
were significantly shifted from the instrumentalist view or the Platonist view to the problem-solving view
and that their shifts in BNM positively influenced the shifts in BLM and BTM. The implication for teachers’
professional development is that transforming teachers’ beliefs through systematic training on the theory
and practice of PBL is feasible before implementing pedagogical innovations featuring PBL on a large
scale.

INTRODUCTION
In recent years, middle schools in China have been promoting initiatives to innovate in pedagogy and
improve educational quality, aiming to support students in developing such core competencies as
problem solving, communication and collaboration, critical questioning, creativity, and activity
experiences while acquiring academic knowledge and skills (Cai & Jiang, 2017; China Ministry of
Education, 2022; Wang et al., 2018; Yao & Guo, 2018). In this process, project-based learning (PBL) has
been increasingly highlighted in middle school teaching, a trend that is visible in several newly issued
official documents. In June 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State
Council of China issued Opinions on Deepening Education Teaching Reform and Comprehensively
Improving the Quality of Compulsory Education in which it was explicitly proposed that schools at the
compulsory education level (which includes middle school) should further optimize their instructional
methods by guiding students to think proactively, question actively, and explore cooperatively through
research-based, project-based, and cooperative learning. As the most educationally developed regions in
China, Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang have launched large-scale curriculum and teaching reform
initiatives featuring PBL. For instance, in October 2020, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission
issued the three-year action plan for PBL in compulsory education in Shanghai (2020 to 2022), proposing
PBL as a focal point for promoting changes in the city’s instructional approaches to further enhance
schools’ vitality and develop students’ core literacy. By implementing this plan, it is expected that
approximately 100 experimental schools featuring PBL will be cultivated and a series of replaceable cases
of PBL will be developed.
In this context, PBL in mathematics education has been formally introduced in official documents. China
Ministry of Education recently issued the mathematics curriculum standards for compulsory education
(2022 edition) in which PBL was first explicitly proposed as a model for students in middle school to
learn integration and practice, a parallel strand to numbers and algebra, graphics and geometry,
probability and statistics, aimed at helping students integrate mathematics and other disciplines, develop
problem-solving skills, and foster the ability to “observe the real world through mathematical eyes,
reflect on the real world with mathematical thinking, and express the real world in mathematical
language” (China Ministry of Education, 2022).
According to the literature (Blumenfeld et al., 1991; Chen & Yang, 2019; Krajcik et al., 2008; Markula &
Aksela, 2022; Rivet & Krajcik, 2008; Rogers et al., 2011), PBL advocates learning in contextualized,
authentic situations in which students are required to engage in group work and sustained inquiry, and
to accomplish a product that develops content knowledge and critical thinking. Although PBL has
become or is becoming, an important direction for curriculum reform, frontline teachers may encounter
challenges when implementing it. These challenges lie in the requirement for teachers to master
additional, previously unknown knowledge and skills (Han et al., 2015b), embrace a constructivist and
student-centered philosophy and have a positive, receptive attitude towards this emerging pedagogical
approach (Blumenfeld et al., 1991; Mentzer et al., 2017; Rogers et al., 2011; Tamim & Grant, 2013).
Previous research has shown that there exists a potential gap between PBL as understood by teachers and
that defined in the documents (Tamim & Grant, 2013), the latter of which can be interpreted as the
expected and ideal PBL.
Therefore, to support teachers in accurately implementing PBL, systematic training programs are
required to help them learn the relevant theoretical knowledge, engage in the practice of curriculum
design (Han et al., 2015b), and modify their beliefs about learning and teaching (Rogers et al., 2011). It is
worth noting that teachers’ beliefs are important factors that influence their teaching practices (Ball &
Cohen, 1996; Cross, 2009; Lavy & Shriki, 2008; Philipp, 2007; Torff, 2005; Wilkins, 2008; Wilson & Cooney,
2002). Currently, regions such as Shanghai and Beijing are pioneering reform initiatives featuring PBL.
Considering that these reform programs will be replicated in more regions in the future, training future
teachers who can implement PBL is necessary. It is suggested that prospective teachers (Prospective
teachers’ ) learn about the implementation of PBL in their university coursework (Markula & Aksela,
2022).
In this context, it becomes essential to supplement the Prospective teachers’ education curriculum with
content on the theory and practice of PBL. The present study aims to explore the feasibility of these
course experiences in shifting Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs by incorporating theoretical and practical
courses of PBL into the curriculum to provide a reference for reforming curriculum design for
Prospective teachers’ in the context of the popularity of PBL in middle schools. Therefore, our research
question is, as follows:
Does the introduction of PBL-related theoretical and practical courses in Prospective teachers’ training
programs have any
perceived impact on their beliefs about mathematics, mathematics learning, and mathematics teaching at
the middle school level?

LITERATURE REVIEW & FRAMEWORK

Practice and Challenges of Project-Based Learning
Although the definition of PBL varies across studies, a consensus has been reached on the core
conceprospective teachers’ of authentic situations, sustained inquiry, collaborative learning, and product
orientation that PBL promotes. This implies that students’ growth in the PBL environment is
multifaceted. International empirical studies have shown that by conducting PBL, in addition to
significantly improving students’ academic achievement (Balemen & Keskin, 2018; Bilgin et al., 2015;
Chen & Yang, 2019; Han et al., 2015a; Harris et al., 2015; Karacalli & Korur, 2014), their information
literacy (Chu et al., 2011), problem-solving competencies (Ferreira & Trudel, 2012; Mettas &
Constantinou, 2008), critical thinking and question-posing competencies (Sasson et al., 2018), and
communication competencies (Owens & Hite, 2022) can also be significantly enhanced.
Furthermore, their motivation to learn (Duke et al., 2021), attitudes towards mathematics, science, and
other subjects (Ferreira & Trudel, 2012; Tseng et al., 2013), and interest in learning and engagement in the
classroom (Remijan, 2017; Wurdinger et al., 2007) are also enhanced. Several studies have even shown
that PBL has a positive impact on academic achievement and nonintellectual factors of students at risk
and in lowsocioeconomic-status schools (Duke et al., 2021; Holmes & Hwang, 2016). PBL has yielded
positive results in practice. However, this does not necessarily mean that teachers do not encounter
various challenges in implementing it. According to existing studies, some of these challenges stem from
external reasons, such as resources and support provided by the schools and the time available for its
implementation (Lam et al., 2010; Viro et al., 2020). Other challenges can be explained in terms of
teachers’ subjective factors. It has been found that when implementing PBL, some teachers were
concerned about the difficulties in helping students adapt to this novel approach and doubted its
facilitative effect on teaching and learning, thus returning to the traditional approach of drill and practice
after a period of experimentation. Others considered that the collaboration and creative thinking that PBL
promotes are not normally covered in standardized tests, and this discrepancy between assessment and
instruction caused
them to lose interest in PBL and eventually abandon it (Rogers et al., 2011). From the perceived risks of
teachers mentioned above, teachers consider that sustained inquiry is time-consuming, while traditional
instruction is cost-effective. It can be concluded that the subjective causes of the ineffectiveness of
implementing PBL are the teachers’ failure to identify with PBL and the lack of change in their previous
beliefs.
Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs
Beliefs have not been uniformly defined in previous studies. In a summary of earlier research, Cross
(2009, p. 326) considered beliefs as “embodied conscious and unconscious ideas and thoughts about
oneself, the world, and one’s position in it, developed through membership in various social groups.”
According to the viewpoint proposed in the Teacher education and development study: Learning to teach
mathematics (TEDS-M) by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement
(IEA), beliefs and knowledge are two essential dimensions of teachers’ necessary literacy (Blömeke &
Kaiser, 2014; Kutaka et al., 2018). Teachers’ beliefs impact their pedagogical decisions (Philipp, 2007) and
are predictors of students’ learning outcomes (Marshall et al., 2009).
In mathematics education, various studies agree on the classification of teachers’ beliefs into three main
dimensions: beliefs about the nature of mathematics (BNM), beliefs about learning mathematics (BLM),
and beliefs about teaching mathematics (BTM) (Beswick, 2005; Cooney et al., 1998; Cross, 2009; Ernest,
1989;
Vesga-Bravo et al., 2022; Xie & Cai, 2021). BNM refers to the idea of “what mathematics is”, while BLM
and BTM are about “how to learn mathematics” and “how to teach mathematics”, respectively.
According to Ernest (1989), BNM consists of three levels:
(1) the instrumentalist view in which people tend to believe that mathematics is a collection of facts,
skills, procedures, rules, etc.,
(2) the Platonist view in which people believe mathematics is a preexisting body of knowledge
to be found, and
(3) the problem-solving view in which people believe mathematics is in dynamic development and that
its domain expands as people explore it.
These three distinct BNMs lead teachers to different orientations of BLM and BTM (Cross, 2009). Ernest
(1989) argued that teachers with the instrumentalist view might ignore the connections among
conceprospective teachers’ in their teaching, teachers with the Platonist view may recognize the
importance of the mathematical system and the connections among conceprospective teachers’ , and
teachers with the problem-solving view may emphasize students’ autonomous exploration of knowledge.

Teachers’ Beliefs and the Implementation of Project Based Learning

Teachers’ beliefs are the guidance supporting their teaching practices (Cross, 2009; Torff, 2005; Wilkins,
2008). As mentioned above, teachers encounter challenges in implementing PBL not only from external
variables (e.g., schools’ commitment of resources and time) but also from the consistency between their
own held beliefs and the philosophy of teaching and learning promoted by PBL. Teachers’ understanding
and implementation of the philosophy promoted by PBL is an essential factor in students’ knowledge
understanding and skill development (Capraro et al., 2016), and only if teachers maintain a high level of
pedagogical fidelity to this philosophy in the implementation of PBL can students truly benefit from it
and achieve higher scores (Han et al., 2015b). Taking the beliefs about teaching as an example, in PBL, the
teacher’s perception of his or her role needs to shift from a lecturer or instructor of knowledge to a
facilitator of learning (Han et al., 2015b), which requires teachers to shift their beliefs from instrumentalist
or Platonist view to problem-solving view that embrace student centeredness, autonomous exploration,
etc. (Mentzer et al., 2017; Tamim & Grant, 2013). Only when teachers develop this well-grounded belief
system and maintain a high level of fidelity in their practice can the ideas promoted by PBL truly be
realized in the classroom teaching.

Course Experiences and Shifts in Prospective Teachers’ Beliefs

Many countries are vigorously promoting student centered, constructivist-oriented curriculum reform
(Empson & Junk, 2004; Isikoglu et al., 2009; Rich, 2021), with China being no exception (China Ministry
of
Education, 2022; Wang, 2011). It has been suggested that the lesson plans that teachers develop are
determined more by the beliefs they hold than by the ideas of curriculum reform, suggesting that
teachers’ beliefs are the foundation of success in curriculum reform (VesgaBravo et al., 2022). For
Prospective teachers’ , beliefs are mainly derived from their own learning experiences and interactions
with teachers (Bernack-Schüler et al., 2015; Jao, 2017; Lavy & Shriki, 2008; Thompson, 1992), and such
beliefs may be limited (Swars et al., 2007).
The exposure of Prospective teachers’ to training programs during their college years can provide them
with a plethora of vivid experiences in epistemic reflection that shape the academic environment that
supports their shifting
beliefs (Bernack-Schüler et al., 2015). Fortunately, research has confirmed that there is potential for
Prospective teachers’ to
shift their existing beliefs about learning in a mathematics methods course (Jao, 2017).
In the case of PBL, teachers’ beliefs are the guiding force for their identification with PBL and the
determinant of their commitment to implementing PBL (Rogers et al., 2011). According to the earlier
analysis, the more teachers agree with the beliefs of the problem solving view, the more receptive they
might be to accepting and implementing PBL. In turn, it can be inferred that a promising solution for
teachers to develop the beliefs of the problem-solving view might be to expose them to theoretical
knowledge and hands-on involvement in PBL during their professional training as teachers at the
university. Given that the experience of implementing PBL has brought conflict between teachers’ deep-
rooted beliefs about teaching and learning (Tamim & Grant, 2013), we consider such an inference to be
meaningful and, therefore, worth exploring through research.
Research on teachers’ beliefs in different cultures is necessary, as it may provide meaningful insights into
each other (Engeln et al., 2013; Kutaka et al., 2018). For instance, by comparing teachers’ beliefs about
mathematics among twelve countries, Engeln et al.’s (2013) study found that the German mathematics
classroom is highly teacher-centered since teachers are influenced by traditional teaching beliefs.
Conversely, teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning in Eastern countries have shifted considerably
in the evolving educational atmosphere, becoming increasingly student centered.

This cross-cultural comparative study of teachers’ beliefs helps mathematics teachers and mathematics
teaching researchers in different cultures to deepen their understanding of their mathematics education
and to enhance their perceptions of the status of mathematics education in different countries through the
lens of teachers’ beliefs. However, not much research has been conducted on Chinese teachers’ beliefs
(Cai,
2004; Li et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2020). Research has shown that teachers’ understanding and
implementation of PBL affect the extent to which students benefit from this emerging approach and that
if
teachers do not implement PBL well, which implies a low instructional commitment to this approach,
then it is of limited help to students and may even negatively impact their academic performance
(Capraro et al., 2016; Erdogan et al., 2016; Han et al., 2015b; Markula & Aksela, 2022).
Moreover, most of the studies that have addressed both PBL and Prospective teachers’ have explored the
effect of using PBL
as an instructional approach on Prospective teachers’ ’ academic performance (Baran & Maskan, 2011;
Bilgin et al., 2015; Mettas & Constantinou, 2008; Papastergiou, 2005), on enhancing self-efficacy beliefs
towards teaching and decreasing anxiety about teaching (Bilgin et al., 2015; Novak & Wisdom, 2018), or
on Prospective teachers’ ’ experiences in a PBL setting (Dag & Durdu, 2017). However, few studies have
introduced the theoretical knowledge and essential practical skills in mathematics teacher training
courses for the implementation of PBL in middle schools or have examined the effect of such
attemprospective teachers’ on their belief shifts.

Framework
As mentioned above, students’ BNM is closely associated with their BLM and BTM. According to Cross’s
(2009) summary of earlier studies (Cobb & Steffe, 1983; Dionne, 1984; Ernest, 1989; Kuhs & Ball, 1986;
Lindblom-Ylanne et al., 2006), the three dimensions of teachers’ beliefs are interpreted as follows. The
instrumentalist view is traditionalist, which focuses on teachers transmitting knowledge and students
receiving it. The problem-solving view is constructivist, which emphasizes that learning should be
student-centered, and students should be allowed to explore and create.
The Platonist view is formalist, which is a belief that falls between the two previous beliefs, that
mathematics is neither informed nor created and that mathematics is not a mere accumulation of discrete
knowledge but rather a system of connections, whereby mathematics is discovered. Based on a systematic
analysis of the relationships among BNM, BLM, and BTM, previous research constructed a matrix
consisting of three dimensions and three levels as a framework for depicting teachers’ beliefs (Beswick,
2005). To operationalize the dimensions for analytical purposes, we specified the existing framework by
dividing BNM into two subdimensions of objective orientation and knowledge organization, BLM into
two subdimensions of learning approach and teacher-student relationship, and BTM into two
subdimensions of teachers’ role and teaching format (as shown in Table 1).
METHOD
Participants
23 participants, eight males, and 15 females, were enrolled in this study, all of whom were juniors from
the Education Department of Beijing Normal University. Beijing Normal University is a comprehensive
university dedicated to Prospective teachers’ preparation, ranking first among its counterparts in China,
and one of its core missions is training exceptional teachers. These 23 undergraduates may not choose to
teach as a career in the future.
However, given that Beijing Normal University is a university with characteristics and strengths in
teacher
education and that past graduates are highly expected to pursue careers as teachers, either after
undergraduate or graduate school, we consider these students to be Prospective teachers’ in this study,
despite the possibility that they may choose other careers in the future.
We informed these Prospective teachers’ of our intention to conduct the study and promised them that
the pre- and post-tests involved in this study were not related to course grades to encourage them to fill
out the questionnaire
voluntarily, carefully, and objectively. All participants were coded anonymously; for example, MYY01
represents a participant whose initials are MYY an whose number is 01.
Program Design
In light of the recent curriculum reform that has introduced PBL at the middle level (China Ministry of
Education, 2022), it is necessary to strengthen Prospective teachers’ ’ training in the theoretical and
practical knowledge of PBL, as they are expected to benefit from this knowledge and experience when
they graduate from universities and enter K-12 schools in a few years. According to Friedrichsen et al.
(2009), there are three main sources of teacher knowledge: teacher education programs, their own
learning experiences, and teaching experience.
Considering that the Prospective teachers’ in this study had no previous learning experiences or
knowledge related to PBL and had no prior teaching experience, we designed a dedicated program in the
teacher education course (i.e., theory and practice of instructional design in middle school mathematics)
for them to acquire the related knowledge.
In the middle of the course schedule, five weeks are dedicated to introducing the theory and practice of
PBL. Specifically, two hours per week for 10 hours, including four hours for the theoretical course and six
hours for the practical course. In the theoretical course, the syllabus and teaching program was designed
by the lecturer, and the concept, design principles, implementation principles, and typical cases of PBL
were delivered successively. Based on the recommendations of previous studies (Bernack-Schüler et al.,
2015; Papastergiou, 2005; Savery & Duffy, 1995), in the practical course, we emphasized providing
Prospective teachers’ with opportunities for case design and epistemic reflection, encouraging them to
build teams, select content for mathematics, design a preliminary case for a complete PBL, discuss and
refine the case within the group, and engage adequately in other processes. At the end of the program,
each group presented their designed case in class, commented on each other’s cases, and exchanged the
impressions gained from the design. The lecturer and teaching assistants conducted a comprehensive
evaluation of each group’s case design.
Questionnaire
According to Safrudiannur and Rott (2020), it is appropriate to adopt a qualitative research method to
examine teachers’ beliefs. In this study, an open-ended questionnaire was applied to collect data on
Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs. Following the methods of previous studies (BernackSchüler et al., 2015), to
depict the shifts in Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs, it is necessary to perform pre- and post-tests.
Three open-ended questions were designed for th pre-test. Question 1 asked, “what do you know about
mathematics in middle school?”, and question 2 asked, “what do you know about learning mathematics
in
middle school?” In answering these two questions, the participants were asked to first summarize four
descriptive words (including but not limited to adjectives, metaphors, and examples, and then to
express their answers in at least 300 words (in Chinese). In question 3, the students were asked to draw a
“mathematical tree” and to explain the meaning of the drawing in a paragraph that described the
imagery of mathematics in their minds.
Four open-ended questions were designed for the post-test of which questions 1, 2, and 3 were identical
to the pre-test. In question 4, the participants were asked to complete a reflection on the program based
on the following:

“Dear friends, no matter what your future career plans are, you may aspire to become a teacher at this
moment or in the future. After these five sessions of theoretical and practical experiences with PBL, have
your perceptions of “mathematics” and “mathematics teaching” changed? If so, what do you think has
changed? Please respond carefully based on your actual situation.”

Three points need to be explained concerning the rationale of the above design. First, the breadth and
depth of knowledge in mathematics vary considerably across school levels, and how mathematics is
learned and taught also differs. To narrow the questions to avoid scattered responses, participants in this
study were
limited to responding only to the “middle school” level.
The reason for choosing this level was that the cases involved in the course (i.e., theory and practice of
instructional design in middle school mathematics) that these participants were studying were mainly
from
middle school mathematics. Second, the question “what do you know about teaching mathematics in
middle school?” was not designed for the pre-test because Prospective teachers’ had no practical
experience in teaching before the pretest; however, during the practical course on PBL, they reflected on
and evaluated the scientific and rational aspects of the cases from a pedagogical perspective and
accumulated personal experience in designing mathematics instruction. Given this, only such a question
(i.e., question 4) was designed in the post-test.
Third, question 3 in the pre- and post-tests examined the mathematical imagery of the participants as a
supplement to question 1 and therefore was only used as supporting information in the analysis for the
results section.
Data Analysis
The data material consists of Prospective teachers’ ’ utterances in the pre- and post-tests, and students’
portfolios looking for
a supplement. The data were analyzed with methods inspired by qualitative content analysis (i.e.,
Mayring,
2004) but without the objectivist connotations related to them (Charmaz, 2006). Following the standards
and procedures of qualitative research to ensure the validity and reliability of this study (Noble & Smith,
2015), we selected teachers’ beliefs framework (Table 1) based on the research questions and then
collected and analyzed data regarding our framework. Specifically, to examine the Prospective teachers’ ’
change in views of the BNM, BLM, and BTM, we followed three consecutive phases for data analysis.
Firstly, we scanned all the Prospective teachers’ ’ utterances from the questionnaires through the lenses
that concerned their perception of the image of BNM, BLM, and BTM. When scanning the Prospective
teachers’ ’ utterances, we noticed that they could be classified into three levels of beliefs (the
instrumentalist view, the Platonist view, and the problem-solving view) according to the framework (see
Table 1), as shall be explained broadly in the results section.
Secondly, to validate our classification into the three aspects (the instrumentalist view, the Platonist view,
and the problem-solving view) and the distinction between declarative and operatively oriented
utterances, two university researchers (authors of this article) and one graduate student read the whole
corpus of utterances and coded them according to our framework. We discussed the disagreement parts
of the coding among us until we reached an agreement (Korstjens & Moser, 2018). In addition, we added
the relevant evidence in the Prospective teachers’ ’ portfolios to support our conclusions.
Finally, from the above-analyzed data, we could gain a sense of the Prospective teachers’ ’ perceived
image of the BNM, BLM, and BTM. We use the term ‘perceived image’ since it reflects the students’ said
beliefs regarding various aspects that concern the views of the BNM, BLM, and BTM, and does not
necessarily reflect their practical abilities and skills. More detail about the coding and evidence of the
examples of perceived shifts in BNM, BLM, and BTM, as well as its related questions in the questionnaire
are shown in Table 2.

RESULTS
Shifts in Beliefs About the Nature of Mathematics
We found that the BNM held by Prospective teachers’ was not definitively attributable to a particular
level but rather to elements of several levels simultaneously, which corroborates previous research
(Beswick, 2012). By conducting systematic courses on the theory and practice of PBL, Prospective
teachers’ ’ BNM shifted with an increased
agreement and acceptance of the problem-solving view.
Objective orientation: From “double-base” to “problem-solving”
The comparison between the pre- and post-tests revealed that most of the Prospective teachers’ ’ BNM
showed a shift from the instrumentalist view to the problem-solving view and considered that the
objective orientation of mathematics should move from focusing on the “double-base” (i.e., basic
knowledge and basic skills) to
problem-solving.
For instance, participant MYY01 reflected on her previous instrumentalist view:

My perception of “what mathematics is” has changed significantly before and after the course.
My previous perception was simpler, thinking that mathematics is the sum of rational thinking
and conceprospective teachers’ . However, after experiencing the five courses and practices of PBL, I feel
that the deeper meaning of mathematics is its occurrence and application, which means that mathematics
comes from real life and is applied to life in which the application ability is very important.

Some participants had a deeper understanding of the connection between mathematics and life. For
example,

Mathematics does not exist in isolation but is deeply connected to daily life. I used to be deeply
influenced by the traditional thinking that mathematics is only in the form of theorems, application
problems, and so on. However, now I find that mathematics can also be derived from real life and then
applied to real life (QJQ08). Mathematics is not only knowledge but also integration with life. Knowledge
comes from life and eventually melts into life (XWJ06). Due to the influence of my major, my
understanding of mathematics used to stay at a more theoretical level, but this course has shown me how
mathematics practically permeates life, as evidenced by the PBL cases designed by our groups (CML17).

Some participants emphasized the contextual aspect of mathematical knowledge:

My understanding of mathematics changed from a single view to a context-based view. Previously, my

knowledge of mathematics was limited to the conceprospective teachers’ in textbooks. After the
introduction to the PBL course, I found that mathematics exists everywhere in life, whether it is algebra
or geometry. Mathematics based on real-life situations gives a stronger sense of reality (HKR02).

Some participants stated in their reflection that activity experience and key competencies are also
important dimensions of mathematics:

Many years later, the complicated mathematical conceprospective teachers’ and models we once learned,
such as derivatives and conic curves, will be forgotten, but the way and ability to think acquired in the
process are entrenched inside us, forming a neural memory that is of great significance for any future job
or profession (YJY15).

To summarize, the Prospective teachers’ ’ BNM changed to some extent after experiencing the systematic
program on PBL theories and practices. It is noteworthy that there was no significant change in the
frequency (i.e., both 11) of Prospective teachers’ ’ use of the terms “foundational” or “emphasizing the
basics” in the pre- and post-tests when describing their impressions of mathematics. Although the
Prospective teachers’ were more agreeable and receptive to the problem-solving view, they still
emphasized the importance of basic knowledge and skills in mathematics. This may be explained by the
tradition of emphasizing the “double base” in teaching mathematics at the basic education level in China,
as these participants had experienced when they were in primary and middle schools. Research has
shown that this tradition may be a reason Chinese students perform well in international mathematics
tests such as PISA (Guo et al., 2018). Therefore, it is positive that Prospective teachers’ maintain an
emphasis on the “double-base” of mathematics before and after the course.
Knowledge organization: From “emphasizing knowledge logic” to “adapting to students’ learning”

Terms such as “logical” and “emphasizing logic” were used more frequently in the pre-test to describe
their impressions of mathematics (with a frequency of eight), while the usage of these terms decreased
slightly in the post-test (with a frequency of five). Correspondingly, the usage of the terms “interesting”
and “fun” differed significantly between the pre- and post-tests (with a frequency increase from six to 14).
This suggests that Prospective teachers’ ’ BNM shifted from the Platonist view to the problem-solving
view, with an increasing agreement that the organization of mathematical knowledge should be adapted
to students’ learning in addition to emphasizing the logic of knowledge.

For instance, a participant noted in the reflection:

After experiencing the five PBL sessions, I increasingly feel and recognize the importance of the learning
process and interest. Once upon a time, I thought that mathematical knowledge was deterministic and
reasoned out by mathematicians, so it was the student’s job to learn the standard answers. However,
through this experience, I feel students seem to get an answer to a problem, but they are gaining a deeper
logical ability by thinking about it and applying it to all aspects of their daily lives (CYB16).

In another instance, when describing “what mathematics is”, participant MYY01 used the terms
“interesting”, “basic”, “important”, and “logical” in the pre-test but “basic”, “logical”, “variable”, and
“comprehension-based” in the post-test. Regarding “variable” and “comprehension-based”, the
participant explained in the post-test that,

When using mathematical knowledge to solve real-world problems, it is necessary to combine abstract
knowledge with concrete situations and to solve problems in unfamiliar situations with our familiar
knowledge, so mathematics is variable. Middle school mathematics is comprehension-based, and
students’
comprehension of knowledge is a prerequisite for application. Only when students understand
mathematical knowledge and know where it comes from and where it goes can they truly grasp its
rationale and apply it to solve problems, which requires teachers to focus on students’ level of
understanding in teaching mathematics.
It can be seen that in addition to emphasizing the logic of knowledge, Prospective teachers’ also
recognize its appropriateness for students’ understanding. As advocated by Jingzhong Zhang of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, we need to move from a “mathematics education” orientation to an
“educational mathematics” orientation when developing textbooks and designing instruction and to
make necessary transformations of primitive, complicated mathematics so that it can be transformed
from an academic form to an educational form and become learnable and teachable (Zhang & Cao, 2005).
In his illustrated mathematical imagery (as shown in Figure 1), the participant, YJY15, explained it well
with a funny limerick:

The mathematical tree is always in bloom; I pick its fruit to nurture talent. The roots of the tree are
intertwined in the mud that is invisible to us, but its meaning is as deep as the sea (the original version in
Chinese is shùxué dà shù cháng shèngkai, wo zhai qí guo yù yingcái. Pángencuòjié nítu li, wèi jiàn qí yì
shen sì hai). In his mathematical imagery, mathematical analysis, advanced algebra, statistical theory,
and other branches of higher mathematics constitute the logical system of mathematics, and for primary
and middle school students, “algebra”, “geometry” and “statistics” are the fruits that can be “picked” due
to absorption of essence of the roots and the nourishment of the sun and rain.

Shifts in Beliefs About Learning Mathematics

From the responses to the pre-test, “student centered” was mentioned frequently in question 2. It can be
seen that Prospective teachers’ have already agreed with this idea, so we will not elaborate on it here. In
addition, most participants used such terms as “self-construction” and “teacher-student interaction” in
the pre-test to describe their perceptions of mathematics learning, indicating that they already knew,
understood, or accepted modern learning theories at the beginning of the course. These beliefs were
reinforced by the systematic program on the theory and practice of PBL.

Learning approach: Increased agreement with “selfconstruction”

Participant ZJT05 mentioned in the pre-test that,

Learning mathematics in middle school requires repeated practice to deepen understanding to build a
foundation for learning more difficult content in high school. Mathematics education in compulsory
education is not only about learning knowledge but also about leading students to discover new
perspectives and paradigms for understanding the world, which is mathematical thinking and
mathematical literacy.

In the post-test, this participant added that,

Learning mathematics in middle school is progressively constructed, requiring both extensive, long-term
practice and constant cognitive deepening so that it can spiral upwards.
In the pre-test, participant QJQ08 recalled her own experience, stating,

I have the impression that the atmosphere in the mathematics classes in middle school is very lively, and
the teacher not only delivers knowledge but also often uses various teaching aids to help us better
understand formulas and theorems, etc. The mathematics learning in middle school is in line with my
cognitive and ability level.

The importance of personalized learning was further emphasized in the post-test:

Mathematics learning should be tailored to the individual’s needs, and teachers should be able to design
the activities and teaching sequence in a reasonable way to achieve personalized learning.

Participant MXH09 focused on the progressive aspect of mathematics learning in the pre-test:

Mathematics learning should form abstract thinking on the premise of having basic knowledge. For
example, conceprospective teachers’ such as triangles and parallelograms are already intuitively
understood in students’ life experiences, so mathematics learning should build on this foundation and
move from intuitive perception to abstract understanding.

In the post-test, the participant further recognized the importance of self-construction in this process:

Mathematical learning should emphasize individualized understanding. Learning should ideally happen
in a relatively relaxed and democratic classroom environment, where students can develop the habit of
proactive learning and take responsibility for their learning. In the process of learning, mathematical
knowledge should be integrated with real life to achieve a unique understanding of the meaning of
mathematical knowledge in life.

Similarly, participant FYR12 stated in post-test that,

The mathematics classroom should guarantee students’ opportunities for independent thinking and
promote knowledge construction by integrating mathematical knowledge with students’ personal
experiences through the integration of real-life problems.

From the above, it can be seen that with the experience of the theory and practice of PBL, the Prospective
teachers’ developed a deeper and clearer understanding of sel fconstruction in learning mathematics.
This is also reflected in the mathematical imagery illustrated by participant XWJ06 in the post-test (as
shown in Figure 2):

Each student has a tree of his or her own, which is rooted in the same “soil”, namely, “mathematical
knowledge”, but each student has a unique approach to learning, so they all have a unique tree that is
different from others. Because their understanding of knowledge is different, the tree grows in different
ways.

Teacher-student relationship: Increased agreement with “interaction”

The participant LMX14 mentioned in the pre-test:

How to learn mathematics in middle school? Just do more exercises, right? I just fell in love with the
feeling of conquering one problem after another in middle school. My math teacher was a tall, thin,
competent man. He drew diagrams quickly and could draw circles with his pinky finger as the center of
the circle, without using a circle rule. So, we enjoyed listening to his geometric proofs, no matter how
many times he drew them, we would all exclaim. He said that math is all about practicing more, so we
were constantly given tests to complete on various topics, and later I came to love the sense of fulfilment
in tackling problems.
A classmate in my neighboring class often scored full marks in math, so I was most looking forward to
getting full marks in math at that time.

The enjoyment of tackling problems seems to be the reason for this participant’s love of mathematics, and
the personal charm of the teacher drawing circles with bare fingers is also an important external factor.
However, the participant added in the post-test that,

Learning mathematics in middle school should be lively, relaxed, and intimate. I remember that my
middle school math teacher had a close relationship with his students and was free to discuss difficult
problems with him.

The importance of teacher-student interaction and classroom relationships was further emphasized.

In another instance, participant TQP11 stated in the pre-test that,

Middle school mathematics can be mastered by doing more exercises. I have a solid foundation, so I can
master the basic knowledge without much effort, and then I can keep improving my problem-solving
skills through practice.

In the post-test, the participant reported that,

The learning approach of middle school mathematics should be diversified and emphasize teacher-
student interaction. Diversity means that there should be more emphasis on contextualized learning and
that the classroom environment should not be dull. A particularly important point is that mathematics
learning should shift from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach.

Participant YZE04 had already recognized the importance of teacher-student interaction in the pre-test:

I think the learning of middle school mathematics should be interactive and entertaining. In many cases,
teachers do not need to focus on explaining all the time but rather allow students to explore and interact
more on their own.

In the post-test, this participant stated more explicitly that,

Learning in middle school mathematics should be teacher-student interactive, student–student

interactive, and have a high degree of freedom. The teaching process should not be limited to lecturing
and training but can be more activity based, with an emphasis on cooperation and communication. In
terms of the teacher-student relationship and student-student relationship, it should be possible to create
opportunities for interaction so that they can inspire each other.
Similarly, the participant PSY23 stated the following in the post-test:

In the middle school mathematics classroom environment, I think mutual communication is the most
important, and both teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction are essential. Equality
and respect are the cornerstones of teacher-student classroom communication, and good teacher ethics
are the foundation on which this relationship is built.

It is worth noting that the teacher’s role should not be neglected while emphasizing the “student-
centered” approach; otherwise, the most freedom and relaxed environment will be reduced to false
prosperity. In this regard, participant XWJ06 had already recognized in the pre-test that

In terms of the teacher-student relationship, teachers should maintain a certain degree of dignity and
seriousness in front of students. At the same time, teachers should also lower their position and give
students more opportunities to demonstrate, and students’ bursts of ideas should be considered and
guided.

As another example, participant CYB16 pointed out in the post-test that

The classroom environment should be group based, with group members forming a circle where the
teacher leads everyone to discuss and solve problems. In terms of the teacher-student relationship, I think
teacher dignity should be necessary, but it is also important to establish a relationship with students that
is both teacher and friend.

It is highly commendable that Prospective teachers’ could recognize the importance of the teacher’s role
while emphasizing student-student and teacher-student interactions.

Shifts in Beliefs About Teaching Mathematics Teacher’s role: From “knowledge interpreter” to
“learning facilitator”
After experiencing the systematic program on the theory and practice of PBL, the Prospective teachers’ ’
perception of
teachers’ role changed gradually from the traditional perception of “knowledge interpreter” to “learning
facilitator” to various extents. In her reflection, a participant noted that,

Teachers should respect the centrality of students and stimulate their motivation. Mathematics teaching is
not simply a process of teaching teachers and learning students. Since mathematical knowledge comes
from life, teachers should impart realistic meaning to mathematical knowledge so that students can
perceive mathematical knowledge from concrete contexts. Teaching should be conducted based on
students’ motivation, as the process is more important than the result (MYY01).

Other participants reflected that,

Traditional mathematics teaching is teacher centered and knowledge-oriented. An approach such as PBL
shifts the center to the student, with more use of guidance, discovery, and other methods, where
knowledge learning is more of a bottom-up construct and the process aspect of learning is valued
(ZJT05).

Some participants suggested that teachers should not go to the extreme of pursuing knowledge teaching
but should also promote students’ learning by developing their abilities and stimulating their interests:

I used to think that mathematics teaching is mainly about teaching knowledge, but now it seems that it is
more important to teach students thinking skills and problem-solving abilities and, most importantly, to
stimulate their interests.
“Mathematics is fun” was once praised by mathematician Mr. Xingshen Chen. In the classroom of
compulsory education, teachers should make more efforts to stimulate students’ interest in learning and
promote students’ learning through their wisdom and art of teaching (LMX14).

Mathematics teaching should focus on the richness of activities and mobilize students’ interest and
enthusiasm through diversified activities (CML17).

Teaching format: From “closed lecture” to “open inquiry”

The Prospective teachers’ ’ perceptions of teachers’ roles have shifted, and these shifts are the prerequisite
for changing their teaching behaviors. From the reflections, we find that the Prospective teachers’ ’
perceptions of teaching formats have changed gradually from “closed” to “open” and from “lecture” to
“inquiry”.
For instance, participant HKR02 emphasized the importance of creating authentic contexts in teaching:

Through the PBL experience, I found that mathematics teaching could be transformed from mechanical
knowledge transfer to authentic context-based exploration. My previous perception of mathematics
teaching was that the teacher delivers, and the students listen, but after this program, I found that
teaching based on reallife situations makes it more productive. First, the students’ interactivity is
maximized when the teacher plays a guiding role. Second, context based teaching makes students feel
more realistic, and crafting project products provides students with motivation and a sense of
accomplishment. Mathematics learning should be such an interactive exploration and rewarding process,
not a passive acceptance.

For other examples,

Mathematics teaching should first attract students’ attention and interest, and it is better to start from real
life and then return to real life (QJQ08).

Teaching should not fall into the traditional misconception of filling a classroom with delivering but
should pay attention to the connection between teaching content and real life so that students can
experience “grounded” mathematics (CML17).

Some participants pointed out that,

PBL transcends the traditional teaching of application problems but makes a great breakthrough in terms
of task authenticity and sustained exploration: mathematics teaching should not be rigid but should give
students more space for free inquiry (QSQ08).

PBL escapes the limitations of application problems and emphasizes mathematical activities and practical
tasks, which allows students the opportunity to explore and integrate knowledge into practice (YZE04).

Some considered that the cultivation of cooperative problem-solving skills could be realized in PBL:

In PBL, students are confronted with problems that need to be solved, and through group work, they
consult information, make plans, and complete tasks, and in this process, their skills are cultivated
(XWJ06).
I realized that teaching mathematics is not about making students learn word by word following
textbook directions or repeatedly lecturing on exercises but about using activities such as class
introduction, in-class activities, and group work to arouse students’ interest and about making students
learn to think independently and communicate cooperatively in the teaching process (HHZ20).

Other participants recognized the importance of mathematical communication:

I used to think that because every question in mathematics has a standard answer and the teacher is the
absolute authority, it is very normal for the teacher to lecture and the students to listen in the classroom.
After a recent hands-on PBL design, I found that teacher-student communication is necessary, which is an
important way to promote students’ learning (CYB16).

PBL is a good innovation in teaching that allows democracy and discussion in the classroom and
establishes an open, inclusive, communicative, and cooperative learning environment (ZWB13).

Summary of the Overall Shifts

From a holistic perspective, we illustrated the perceived shifts in Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs in Table
3. An obvious finding was that most Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs of BNM, BLM, and BTM reached the
problem-solving level in the post-test, though they were at different levels in the pre-test. For example,
BNM and BTM were at the level of instrumentalist view, while Prospective teachers’ ’ BLM was already
showing some degree of problem-solving view in the pre-test, and then they most shifted from a lower
level or strengthened by the original problem-solving view in the post-test. Therefore, through a
systematic PBL theory and practice program, the Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs of BNM were significantly
shifted, which shift also positively influenced the shift in their BLM and BTM. In sum, the PBL program
had positive effects on the perceived shifts of Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

The Experience of the PBL Theory and Practice Program Positively Influenced the Shift of Prospective
Teachers’ Beliefs

The current study found that after receiving a systematic PBL theory and practice program, the
Prospective teachers’ ’ BNM, BLM, and BTM had shifted. We also confirmed previous research that shifts
in Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs usually begin with the BNM, and a shift in the BNM triggers a
reexamination of their views on mathematics and teaching (Beswick, 2012; Cross, 2009).
For instance, participant TQP11 expressed her perceptions of middle school mathematics in the pre-test
as “rather boring”, “full of mathematical symbols”, “requires logical thinking”, and “cold” but used the
terms “fundamental”, “interesting”, “lifelike”, and “applicable” in the post-test. It can be seen that her
BNM shifted from the instrumentalist view to the problem-solving view. Correspondingly, her BLM and
BTM also appeared to have changed in the post-test.
For instance, in her reflection on the post-test, she noted that teaching should provide students with
ample opportunities for engagement.

In the past, I was perhaps limited by traditional models and methods and felt that mathematics teaching
was mechanical. Through this period of PBL practice, I found that this approach to teaching math
concerns the centrality of students and allows them to have maximum opportunities to be involved, thus
making math teaching more meaningful.

This is supported by previous research showing that teachers’ perceptions of mathematics influence their
understanding of the design of instruction, and it is a prerequisite for shaping their BLM and BTM
(Kutaka et al., 2018) and a factor that motivates them to transform their teaching behaviors (Rott, 2020;
Thompson, 1992).
To summarize, shifting teachers’ BNM is important for shifting their BLM and BTM. When teachers agree
to view mathematical knowledge as a creation of human activity, they are more willing to devote more
time, effort, and resources to encouraging student participation and exploration (Philippou & Christou,
2002). Our study further confirms that experiencing a systematic PBL theory and practice program can
shift
Prospective teachers’ ’ BNM, and thus their BLM and BTM, to a certain extent, when they are involved in
the practice of PBL.
When teachers are involved in the practice of PBL, they can feel a sense of achievement and fulfilment,
and these tangible benefits eventually lead to a shift in their beliefs and a recognition and acceptance of
this new approach to learning and teaching (Lavy & Shriki, 2008).

Programs on the Theory and Practice of Project-Based Learning Should be Incorporated into
University
Teacher Training Courses
Previous research has shown that challenges are frequently encountered in implementing PBL in primary
and middle schools. The subjective reasons for these challenges are the teachers’ concerns about the
potential risks of this approach and their struggle to build trust in this emerging approach (Rogers et al.,
2011). As curriculum implementers, teachers need a conceptual understanding and acceptance of PBL to
be able to implement it accurately. The present study found that after an intervention with a program on
the theory and practice of PBL, prospective beliefs shifted to some degree. The Prospective teachers’
thought the short program was beneficial for their professional development:

Through this program, I was exposed to many projects that could spark students’ interest in teaching
middle school mathematics, and I also saw new ideas and practices. Although my understanding of PBL
is not yet thorough, I have already experienced a pedagogical innovation in the design process, which
also has a high value for future professional development (YJY15).

This suggests that before implementing PBL as an emerging approach on a large scale in middle schools,
we should first help teachers understand and embrace its ideas. Moreover, our attemprospective
teachers’ have proven that it is necessary, feasible, and somewhat productive to train them at both
theoretical and practical levels.
The intervention in this study was designed for Prospective teachers’ with a relatively short program
period. Although the
participants showed some degree of change in their beliefs, we suggest that it is still necessary to be
relatively conservative about what can be accomplished. Shifting teachers’ beliefs is not easy. A previous
study on inservice teachers showed that after a year of experimenting with PBL, some teachers’
perspectives and approaches to mathematics teaching remained virtually unchanged (Rogers et al., 2011).
Other studies have noted that to properly understand PBL as described in the document, teachers need to
receive long-term training and years of practice (Markula & Aksela, 2022; Mentzer et al., 2017). Studies
have even found that although teachers form new beliefs, this does not necessarily mean that they have
abandoned their old beliefs (Ambrose, 2004; Bernack-Schüler et al., 2015).
This was confirmed in the present study, as participant TQP11 mentioned in her reflection:

The design of PBL requires high requirements for teachers, not only a strong sense of innovation but also
a continuous framing and refinement by the teacher team, which is a long process of exploration.

Therefore, in the context of PBL increasingly becoming a dominant teaching approach in middle schools,
designing systematic training programs on PBL with more content, better structure, and longer duration
is crucial for both prospective and in-service teachers to shift their beliefs and realize the ideas of PBL. In
this regard, further research has yet to be conducted. Based on the short-term training of Prospective
teachers’ in this study, the following two suggestions could be considered. First, we design an intuitive
theoretical curriculum. For frontier teachers, abstract theoretical knowledge needs to be presented in an
easy-to-understand and operational way. In this regard, “6A standards” and “Gold standards”
developed by Buck Institute for Education are recommended (see https://www.pblworks.org/).
Second, teachers should be encouraged to be involved in the design and implementation of PBL and to
reflect on the experience. Research has shown that beliefs can influence actions, while experiences and
reflections can also influence beliefs (Lavy & Shriki, 2008). When confronted with unprecedented ideas
and challenges, teachers’ deeply held beliefs may be shocked and thus shifted (Lloyd, 2002). This was
also evidenced in this study.
Overall, by providing Prospective teachers’ with a systematic theoretical and practical program on PBL
in the teacher training curriculum, this study found that such program experience is feasible for shifting
Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs. Specifically, three main findings were derived from this study. First, a
systematic theoretical and practical program on PBL resulted in observable shifts in all three dimensions
of Prospective teachers’ ’ beliefs. Second, the shifts in BNM were mainly in the perceptions of objective
orientation and knowledge organization, the shifts in BLM were mainly in the perceptions of learning
approaches and teacher-student relationships, and the shifts in BTM were mainly in the perceptions of
teacher roles and teaching formats. Third, the shift in beliefs usually begins with BNM (Baron, 2015), so it
is in the dominant position in the belief system of Prospective teachers’ .

Keterbatasan dan Pertimbangan Lebih Lanjut

Temuan-temuan ini tidak representatif atau dapat digeneralisasikan karena ukuran
sampel yang kecil. Namun, kami menganggap bahwa keyakinan guru merupakan
konsep yang rumit dan laten, dan metode yang digunakan mungkin merupakan cara
yang lebih baik untuk mengukurnya, yaitu dengan mengartikulasikan pemikiran batin
mereka. Menariknya, dalam penelitian sebelumnya (Rogers et al., 2011), dua dari tiga
guru yang masih dalam masa tugas ditemukan tidak mengubah keyakinan mereka
secara signifikan setelah satu tahun praktik PBL. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini
tampaknya lebih positif. Salah satu penjelasan yang mungkin adalah bahwa calon guru
belum mengembangkan gaya mengajar dan filosofi mengajar mereka, dan oleh karena
itu, keyakinan mereka lebih sensitif terhadap masukan baru dibandingkan dengan guru
yang sudah bekerja. Namun, kami mempertimbangkan setidaknya dua alasan lain
untuk hasil saat ini. Refleksi atas alasan-alasan ini dapat menjadi masukan bagi
penelitian selanjutnya.
Pertama, meskipun banyak penelitian yang mendukung gagasan bahwa keyakinan
guru mempengaruhi praktik mengajar mereka (Ball & Cohen, 2010).
Pertama, meskipun banyak penelitian telah mendukung gagasan bahwa keyakinan
guru memengaruhi praktik mengajar mereka (Ball & Cohen, 1996; Cross, 2009; Philipp,
2007; Torff, 2005; Wilkins, 2008; Wilson & Cooney, 2002; Lavy & Shriki, 2008), perilaku
mereka di dalam kelas bisa jadi tidak konsisten dengan keyakinan mereka (Chen, 2008;
Vesga-Bravo dkk., 2022), dan keyakinan yang dilaporkan bisa jadi berbeda dengan
keyakinan yang sesungguhnya (yaitu, yang tercermin dalam perilaku mengajar sehari-
hari) (Beswick, 2012; Speer, 2005). Juga telah dicatat bahwa salah satu kelemahan dalam
penelitian tentang keyakinan guru adalah upaya untuk mengeksplorasi struktur
keyakinan melalui pendekatan empiris yang mengasumsikan bahwa guru dapat secara
akurat mengekspresikan keyakinan mereka (Leatham, 2006). Hal ini mengimplikasikan
bahwa untuk benar-benar menangkap keyakinan guru, informasi yang valid perlu
disimpulkan dari praktik mereka, yang mencakup tetapi tidak terbatas pada perilaku
mengajar mereka sehari-hari, desain proses pengajaran, dan persepsi mereka dalam
memperlakukan siswa. Untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang lebih baik tentang
keyakinan calon guru, cara yang mungkin dapat dilakukan adalah dengan menilai
mereka melalui dokumen perencanaan pengajaran yang mereka rancang.
Kedua, seperti yang disarankan oleh penelitian yang sudah ada, persepsi guru terhadap
perubahan keyakinan mereka mungkin dibesar-besarkan, dan terkadang guru
melaporkan sendiri perubahan yang signifikan sementara perubahan yang terjadi
hanya sedikit (Rogers et al., 2011). Dengan mengingat hal ini, meskipun mayoritas
partisipan dalam penelitian ini melaporkan adanya perubahan keyakinan yang positif,
kita perlu bersikap konservatif dalam menafsirkan hasil ini. Apakah keyakinan tersebut
berubah masih perlu dianalisis dalam kinerjanya dalam praktik mengajar.
Ketiga, untuk tujuan perbandingan, kuesioner yang digunakan haruslah sama pada
saat pre-test dan post-test. Dalam penelitian ini, kami tidak menyertakan pertanyaan
"apa yang Anda ketahui tentang mengajar matematika di sekolah menengah
sekolah menengah pertama" pada pre-test dengan pertimbangan pengalaman mengajar
calon guru yang masih terbatas. Mereka mungkin masih memiliki keyakinan tentang
mengajar sebelum mengikuti pelatihan, yang mungkin berasal dari pengalaman atau
interaksi dengan guru mereka.