Pre-Service Elementary School Teachers’ learning styles and their Ability to Solve Mathematical Problems according to Polya's Strategy

The purpose of this study is to determine the learning styles of pre-service elementary school teachers at the University of Petra, and to assess their ability to solve mathematical problems according to Polya's strategy. This research was administered to 85 students who had completed a course on basic concepts in mathematics during the second semester of 2013-2014 academic years. To collect the data, the researcher employed two types of instruments: the Learning Style Inventory (LSQ), which was prepared by Honey & Mumford (1992), and the Mathematical Problems Solving Test (MPST) according to Polya's strategy, which was prepared by the researcher. The study concluded that students lack the ability to solve mathematical problems and that the level of students' ability to solve mathematical problems varies depending on the school year. In addition, the study concluded that students' ability to solve mathematical problems varies depending on their learning style. The most frequently preferred learning style was Activist-Reflector style, which showed better performance in solving math problems than other styles. Keywords: Learning styles, math problem solving, G. Poly

The Relationship between the University Students’ Level of Metacognitive Thinking and their Ability to Solve Mathematical and Scientific Problems

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the university students’ metacognition thinking and their ability to solve mathematical and scientific problems. 172 university students were involved in this study. The researchers employed two types of instruments: metacognition awareness inventory, and a mathematical & scientific problem solving test; which was constructed by the researchers. After the collection of data, the researchers ran a suitable statistical analysis. The study has concluded that Petra University students have a medium level of metacognitive thinking, and that the variables of sex, faculty, high school stream, and the current year in the university had no effect on their level of metacognitive thinking. The study has also shown that these students suffer from a lack of ability in solving mathematical and scientific problems; no significance correlation between the level of metacognitive thinking in the overall scale and the ability to solve mathematical and scientific problems. However, there was a significant correlation between a few factors of metacognitive thinking and the ability to solve mathematical problems, and these are: Procedural Knowledge, Evaluation, Fault Picking, and Managing Knowledge; as well as a significant correlation between Fault Picking and the ability to solve both mathematical and scientific problems. Keywords: metacognitive thinking, problem solving

The Relationship between University of Petra Pre-service Classroom Teachers’ Attitudes toward Graphs and Their Ability to Read and Interpret Them

The aim of this study is twofold: (a) to investigate the relationship between University of Petra pre-service classroom teachers’ attitudes toward graphs and their ability to read and interpret them, (b) the impact of the following factors on their attitudes toward graphs and their ability to read and interpret them: (1) high school stream (scientific, literary, information technology, others); (2) academic level at university (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) and; (3) the number of science and mathematics courses they had taken at the University. Data were collected using two questionnaires: the attitude toward graphs which was developed by Mumba et al. (2009), and the ability to read and interpret them, which was developed by the researchers. The study sample consisted of 122 female students who were enrolled in the classroom teacher major at the University of Petra in Jordan. The results showed that: (1) pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward graphs on the overall scale were moderate; and the pre-service teachers valued graphs, expressed moderate interest in graphs, and moderate cognitive competence for graphing, although they did not make enough effort concerning graphs (2) the attitudes of classroom teachers toward graphs became more positive as they advanced in their level of academic year (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) as well as by the increase in the number of science and mathematics courses they have attended at the University; (3) level of pre-service classroom teachers’ ability to read graphs was below the educationally accepted level. In addition, the ability to read graphs seems to increase as students advance further in their academic level; (4) the presence of statistically significant correlation between students' attitudes toward graphs and their ability to read and interpret them. Keywords: read and interpret graphs, pre-service classroom teacher, attitudes

Pre-Service Classroom Teachers' Attitudes toward Graphs and Their Ability to Read and Interpret Them

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