Future preschool teachers' mathematical questions during shared book reading

Recent studies demonstrated that the adult-preschooler interaction during shared book reading (SBR) contributes to its effectiveness (Mol et al., 2008). The level of abstraction, or complexity, of the mathematical questions adults formulate during SBR serves as an indicator of the interaction quality. We aimed to investigate the chance of spontaneously formulating a mathematical question and the level of abstraction of the mathematical questions future preschool teachers propose to formulate during SBR, and their association with teachers' professional knowledge and beliefs, and type of picture book. Participants were 111 future preschool teachers. We investigated their chance of formulating a mathematical question and the level of abstraction of their mathematical questions using a video-based instrument and distinguished between two types of picture books, namely, mathematical and non-mathematical picture books. We additionally assessed their (1) mathematical content knowledge, (2) mathematical pedagogical content knowledge, and (3) beliefs about mathematics in general and about the teaching and learning of mathematics, with three online questionnaires. Data were analyzed using multilevel analyses. Results revealed that mathematical picture books increase the likelihood of formulating a mathematical question and provoked more abstract mathematical questions compared to non-mathematical picture books. There were no significant associations between teachers' professional knowledge and beliefs and the dependent variables. Our findings point to the importance of adequately selecting picture books to stimulate mathematical preschoolers' development via SBR and also call for further investigations on the learning-supportive picture book characteristics and teacher characteristics.