SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT INDUCTIVE REASONING AND THEIR INTERPRETATION IN TEACHING

Inductive reasoning is an essential tool for teaching mathematics to generate knowledge, solve problems, and make generalizations. However, little research has been done on inductive reasoning as it applies to teaching mathematical concepts in secondary school. Therefore, the study explores secondary school teachers’ perceptions of inductive reasoning and interprets this mathematical reasoning type in teaching the quadratic equation. The data were collected from a questionnaire administered to 22 teachers and an interview conducted to expand their answers. Through the thematic analysis method, it was found that more than half the teachers perceived inductive reasoning as a process for moving from the particular to the general and as a way to acquire mathematical knowledge through questioning. Because teachers have little clarity about inductive phases and processes, they expressed confusion about teaching the quadratic equation inductively. Results indicate that secondary school teachers need professional learning experiences geared towards using inductive reasoning processes and tasks to form concepts and generalizations in mathematics

On the Order of Writing Chinese Characters

Se reportan seis fases del razonamiento inductivo que presentaron 19 profesores de matemáticas de secundaria al resolver un problema de generalización de un patrón cuadrático. Los datos se recolectaron mediante sus respuestas escritas y entrevistas. El análisis se realizó con base en el modelo de Cañadas y Castro (2007). Se encontró que, para generalizar de manera correcta, no basta con reconocer las regularidades en varios casos particulares, sino que se precisa de asociar esas regularidades con estructuras matemáticas que describan el patrón de manera general, y se detectaron dificultades en algunas fases que impidieron a los profesores llegar a generalizar.Inductive reasoning stages presented by mathematics teachers when solving a generalization problemThis investigation reports six inductive reasoning stages presented by nineteen middle school mathematics teachers when solving a generalization problem of a quadratic pattern. The data was collected through their written responses and interviews. The analysis was performed based on the model of Cañadas and Castro (2007). It was found that the correct generalization not only needed the recognition of regularities in some particular cases, but an accurate association between those regularities and the mathematical structures that describe the pattern in a general way. Furthermore, several difficulties that prevented the teachers from achieving a generalization were detected.Doi: 10.30827/pna.v14i2.911