PRESERVICE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ REASONING IN SOLVING CRITICAL THINKING PROBLEM

Mathematical reasoning is one of the abilities that must have by students after learning mathematics. To improve students’ reasoning, teachers also have to good in reasoning. Due to the importance of reasoning for teachers, a qualitative descriptive research was conducted to analyze how the reasoning of preservice mathematics teachers in solving critical thinking problem. The data were collected through instrument test that consists of one problem about perimeter of a rectangle from 40 preservice mathematics teachers of first year in one of public universities in North Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia. The problem measured the skill of manipulating mathematical process; constructing mathematical proof, and drawing conclusion. Their works were analyzed for each indicator of reasoning. The result showed that more than 75% preservice mathematics teachers were wrong in solving the problem. They were not good in constructing mathematical proof to draw a conclusion. It concludes that preservice mathematics teachers’ ability in mathematical reasoning was not satisfied. The ability still needs to be improved through learning activities and they must be accustomed to the problems or situations that involving reasonin

Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Personal Figural Concepts and Classifications About Quadrilaterals

The aim of this study was to determine preservice mathematics teachers’ personal figural concepts and hierarchical classifications about quadrilaterals and to investigate the relationships between them. The participants were 57 preservice primary mathematics teachers in their senior year at a state university in Turkey. The preservice mathematics teachers were administered a questionnaire that consisted of 13 questions extracted from studies on the descriptions and images of quadrilaterals, identification of quadrilateral families among given images, and identification and classification of the relationships between quadrilaterals. The results showed that the preservice mathematics teachers’ knowledge of quadrilaterals learnt at primary-secondary school level and prototypical images were dominant in their personal figural concepts. Also, the teachers didn’t use the hierarchical definitions of quadrilaterals and were not able to establish relationships among quadrilaterals due to the effect of prototypical images in choosing a family category among the given images. On the other hand, the majority of the participants gave correct answers to the questions about the dual relationships among quadrilaterals. The study concluded that although the preservice teachers possessed formal definitions of quadrilaterals, their prototypical images affected their personal figural concepts

Conceptual and procedural mathematical knowledge of beginning mathematics majors and preservice teachers

In light of known challenges in the transition from school to university in mathematics, we investigate differences in the (mathematical) prerequisites of mathematics majors and preservice mathematics teachers. Results show that although there are no significant differences in high school grade point average, mathematical prerequisites of mathematics majors are significantly better than those of preservice mathematics teachers. Differences are higher in conceptual than in procedural knowledge with medium effect sizes between mathematics majors and preservice higher secondary teachers and (very) large effect sizes between mathematics majors and preservice lower secondary or primary school teachers. These results are discussed regarding transition challenges and the fit of prerequisites and chosen study program

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Connecting Mathematics to Art (pp. 7--17)

The author presents an activity designed to help preservice mathematics teachers begin to understand how they can make their lessons more culturally responsive by connecting content to everyday contexts while incorporating students’ interests and culture in their teaching

Learning within communities of practice in preservice secondary school teachers education

We present the main features of a study that explored the learning processes of a group of preservice mathematics teachers in a methods course. We discuss the implications of using the communities of practice perspective in designing and developing teacher training programs

EXAMINING PRESERVICE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND CONCEPT IMAGES OF SEQUENCE AND SUBSEQUENCE CONCEPTS

This study examined first-grade preservice mathematics teachers’ perceptions and concept images of sequence and subsequence concepts. The qualitative research design was utilized in accordance with this purpose. The study sample was composed of 99 preservice mathematics teachers attending the Faculty of Education at a state university during the fall term of 2015/2016 academic year. A form of 6 open-ended questions prepared about the concepts of sequence and subsequence was used as the data collection instrument. Answers of the preservice teachers to the open-ended questions were first scanned as images and then transferred into digital medium. Next, the data transferred into digital medium were subjected to a content analysis with MAXQDA 12 qualitative data analysis software. “Data coding” which is a data analysis method was utilized. It was concluded in the study that the preservice teachers had wrong perceptions and concept images of both sequences and subsequences scientifically.  Article visualizations

Information technologies and the development of professional knowledge and identity in teacher education

This paper addresses the preparation in ICT of preservice mathematics teachers. We describe the aims, assumptions, and work carried out in a course offered at the University of Lisbon and briefly discuss the processes involved in the development of professional knowledge and the formation of professional identities. Using a qualitative methodology, based on the administration of free-response questionnaires to the student teachers enrolled in the course in 1999-2000, we analyze their general perspectives about ICT, the implications of the use of ICT in their view of teaching methodologies, and their development of a professional identity. This work provides suggestions for teacher education practice and for further research

Costa Rican Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Readiness to Teach

Mathematics teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics has been broadly studied in recent years, and many theoretical frameworks and instruments have been created to measure and improve knowledge and competencies to teach mathematics. The knowledge gained from these studies has been crucial in understanding and determining what mathematics teachers should learn. In Costa Rica, there is a lack of regulations regarding the training that mathematics teachers receive and the knowledge and competencies they acquire in the different teacher education programs. This study investigates the knowledge for teaching mathematics of Costa Rican preservice teachers using the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) instrument to identify strengths and weaknesses in their training. A mixed-method analysis of the responses of 79 participants revealed that they were well prepared for cognitive application skills but showed weaknesses in the development of reasoning skills. Additionally, the solutions highlighted significant deficiencies in participants’ monitoring of their own work and in the ability to provide feedback on students’ work. We hope that our findings could inform universities and policy makers to improve the quality of teacher education programs.Universidad de Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Matemátic

Cabri's role in the task of proving within the activity of building part of an axiomatic system

We want to show how we use the software Cabri, in a Geometry class for preservice mathematics teachers, in the process of building part of an axiomatic system of Euclidean Geometry. We will illustrate the type of tasks that engage students to discover the relationship between the steps of a geometric construction and the steps of a formal justification of the related geometric fact to understand the logical development of a proof; understand dependency relationships between properties; generate ideas that can be useful for a proof; produce conjectures that correspond to theorems of the system; and participate in the deductive organization of a set of statements obtained as solution to open-ended problems