Pre-service Primary Teachers’ Skills in Revealing and Interpreting Students’ Mathematical Thinking
Keywords:
Mathematics Education, Pre-service Teacher Education, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Knowledge of Content and Students, FractionsAbstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate pre-service primary teachers’ skills in revealing and
interpreting elementary school students’ mathematical thinking. Qualitative research methods were used.
20 pre-service teachers, working in pairs, were asked to conduct an interview with an elementary student
regarding fractions and write a report as a requirement of a course they enrolled. Reports and records of
interviews were examined through content analysis method. Results revealed that most pre-service
teachers are inadequate in probing, follow-up questioning, and guiding the interview based on the student’s
answers. Furthermore, results showed that most pre-service teachers focused on the correctness, made
quick, superficial claims and overgeneralizations about student thinking.
