An evaluation of the undergraduate program of teaching mathematics: A case study

This study aims to determine the adjustment between the skills related with the constructivism, raised by the Undergraduate Program of Teaching Mathematics, and expected competencies of mathematics teachers prepared by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). This research is based on a qualitative study in which semi-structured interview, intrinsic case study, and document analysis are used as the data collection procedures. The questions of semi-structured interview are all based on the competencies of Mathematics teachers, prepared by MoNE. In this study, 4 of 7 instructors of Mathematics, teaching in the program of Mathematics Teaching in a state university, 11 of 62 senior students (pre-service teachers) studying in the same program, and 4 Mathematics teachers, graduates of Mathematics Teaching, reached by snowball sampling method, voluntarily participated in the semi-structured interview. UCLA program evaluation model developed by Alkin is also used as a program evaluation method in this study. According to the results of this study, the Undergraduate Program of Teaching Mathematics has some deficiencies in terms of raising constructivist teaching skills in the viewpoint of the instructors, pre-service teachers and graduates. Participants indicate that the courses in which pre-service teachers have chance to practice more should be placed special emphasis. According to them, the courses such as Measurement and Assessment, Designing Material and Scientific Research Techniques should be revised and rearranged. They also reported that the universities should be equipped with the whole technology that is useful in the field of education. Finally, they added that the internship courses must be more intense. Key Words: Program Evaluation, Undergraduate program of teaching mathematics,Mathematics Teachers Competencies, Constructivism