Investigating middle school preservice mathematics teachers’ conceptions of algebra and knowledge of task purposes and student thinking

Download
index.pdf
2018
Alapala, Burcu
Show full item record
283
views
144
downloads
Starting with the beginning of the 21th century, teaching algebra in the early grades has gained more attention. Since teachers are one of the crucial factors in teaching early algebra, this study aimed to understand middle school pre-service mathematics teachers’ (PSMTs’) awareness about the underlying algebraic structure of given tasks, their conceptions of algebra, expectations about possible student solutions, and the changes after attending the algebra weeks in the Methods of Teaching Mathematics Course. With this aim, a qualitative study was conducted with third year middle school pre-service mathematics teachers who were enrolled to the Methods of Teaching Mathematics Courses in the Elementary Mathematics Education program at a public university in Ankara, Turkey. The data were collected throughout hour-long, semi-structured, task-based individual interviews. The pre-interviews were conducted with eight participants before the two weeks focus on algebra chapter in the tenth week of the first semester and the post-interviews were conducted with seven of these participants after the algebra weeks in the fourth week of the second semester. The findings of the study indicated that the PSMTs were successful in their awareness of task purposes and knowledge of student’s possible solutions except anticipating student misconceptions regarding the equal sign in the pre-interviews. In the post-interviews, PSMTs were more successful at this. While, in the pre-interviews, PSMTs’ categorization of student solutions seemed narrow focusing on symbol manipulation than on relational thinking, this situation changed in the post-interviews. However, PSMTs were not found to hold consistent conceptions of algebra during the interviews.
Mathematics, Algebra, Student teachers, Student teachers, Teaching, Mathematics teachers.
http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12622342/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/27601
Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

Investigating preservice middle school mathematics teachers’ noticing of students’ mathematical thinking in the context of lesson study /
Güner, Pınar; Akyüz, Didem; Department of Elementary Education (2017)
The purpose of the current study was to examine preservice middle school mathematics teachers’ noticing of students’ mathematical thinking in the context of lesson study professional development model and determine whether any changes took place in their noticing skills. Qualitative research methodology, in particular, case study was used in order to elaborate what and how preservice teachers notice during lesson study phases which are planning, teaching, reflecting, re teaching and re-reflecting. With this...
Prospective middle school mathematics teachers’ developing understanding of geometric transformations
Avcu, Seher; Çetinkaya, Bülent; Department of Sociology (2017)
The purpose of this study was to explore prospective middle school mathematics teachers’ developing understanding of geometric transformations during the implementation of a seven-week instructional sequence designed to have them gain a mapping understanding of geometric transformations. This instructional sequence involved exploring geometric transformations in both static and dynamic geometry environments. Participants of the study were sixteen prospective middle school mathematics teachers. Design-based ...
An Analysis of prospective middle school mathematics teachers‘ argumentation structures in technology and paper-pencil environments
Erkek, Özlem; Işıksal Bostan, Mine; Department of Elementary Education (2017)
The purpose of the current study was to investigate the nature of argumentation structures of prospective middle school mathematics teachers while solving geometry tasks within the GeoGebra and Paper-Pencil groups. The study employed qualitative case study design and the data of which were collected from 16 prospective middle school mathematics teachers during the fall semester of the 2013-2014 academic year. Data were based on the video recordings of the implementations, the focus group interviews and docu...
Promoting and investigating pre-service middle school mathematics teachers' TPACK-practical development in the context of an undergraduate course
Koştur, Merve; Haser, Çiğdem; Department of Elementary Education (2018)
The purpose of the study was to enhance and investigate the technological pedagogical content knowledge-practical (TPACK-P) development of pre-service middle school mathematics teachers (PMTs) through the Technology Use in Mathematics Education (TUME) course aiming TPACK-P development in three pedagogical domains: Assessment, Planning and Design, and Enactment. TUME course was designed and implemented based on four principles driven from the TPACK and TPACK-P frameworks which were transformative approach, c...
An Investigation of pre-service middle school mathematics teachers‟ ability to connect the mathematics in content courses with the middle school mathematics
Dilberoğlu, Merve; Haser, Çiğdem; Department of Elementary Science and Mathematics Education (2015)
This study investigated if and how preservice middle school mathematics teachers related the mathematical knowledge addressed in general mathematics content courses in a four-year teacher education program to their future teaching of middle school mathematics. The study involved two interrelated sections. On one hand, preservice middle school mathematics teachers' views on the issue were gathered through asking open-ended questions via a semi-structured interview protocol. On the other hand, their performan...
Citation Formats
B. Alapala, “Investigating middle school preservice mathematics teachers’ conceptions of algebra and knowledge of task purposes and student thinking,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2018.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr