Document Type
Article
Abstract
A large body of literature supports the notion that a K-12 teacher's confidence in teaching and content impacts student achievement. This study explores a group of preservice teachers and their confidence in teaching geometric concepts. The eight participants were preservice secondary mathematics teachers enrolled in a high-school-focused geometry course centered on pedagogical content knowledge. Using mixed methods, the study examined how their confidence to teach geometric topics changed over the course, with participants rating that confidence on a 4-point Likert scale. Confidence to teach most topics increased significantly. Six themes emerged from the second round of interviews: (1) deep understanding of content improves confidence to teach; (2) opportunities to teach improve confidence; (3) course activities were interesting; (4) resources improve confidence; (5) lack of deep content understanding causes uncertainty; and (6) students want to learn pedagogical skills.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Repository Citation
Hastings, Stephanie and Matney, Gabriel T., "How Preservice Teachers' Confidence is Impacted by a Geometry Course" (2026). School of Inclusive Teacher Education Faculty Publications. 38.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/site_pub/38
Publication Date
Summer 2026
Publication Title
Ohio Journal of School Mathematics
Publisher
The Ohio State University Libraries
DOI
https://doi.org/10.18061/ojsm.7112
Volume
103
Start Page No.
99
End Page No.
116