Proposing a Theoretical Framework for Teachers’ Professional Development for Preschool Mathematics Education and its Possible Use in Practice

Abstract

　　The article mainly proposed the theoretical framework for continuous professional development of preschool teachers in early childhood mathematics education in Japan, utilizing the three components of theory and methodological perspectives: Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), and the ALACT model. It also examined how the framework can successively depict teachers’ changes and growth for offering mathematical activities in practice. In this article, particularly focusing on PCK and ALACT model to examine how they can work, the authors qualitatively analysed the children’s mathematical activity regarding the comparison and measurement of various areas of rectangles by non-universal unit and the transcriptions of a teacher’s talks, followed by the analytical procedure through the interpretive phenomenological lenses. The analysis showed that the proposing frameworks could work to see preschool teacher’s professional development and some improved points for the future practices.