Preservice Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge about Repeating Patterns and their Ability to Notice Preschoolers Algebraic Thinking

Abstract

Background: Several studies have shown that many preservice teachers (PTs) who teach in the early years have a superficial knowledge about repeating patterns (RPs), which affects their knowledge about children’s algebraic thinking. Objective: This article aims to understand PTs’ algebraic thinking and their ability to notice preschoolers algebraic thinking and how these two domains articulate within a teacher education experiment. Design: The study follows a qualitative methodology based on participant observation, complemented by document collection. Setting and participants: The study stems from a teaching experiment carried out in a school module focused on patterns and algebra of a degree in basic education, with two pairs of PTs as participants. Data collection and analysis: The data come from the written productions and discussions between the elements of each pair of PTs within the scope of the tasks proposed in the teacher education course, adopting an original analysis framework. Results: The results reveal that the PTs successfully identify the structure of the RPs and the general position of each term; however, one of the pairs still find difficulties in fully understanding that mathematical object. The pairs attend to relevant aspects of children’s algebraic thinking, although sometimes with limited interpretation. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of creating opportunities in initial teacher education for PTs to develop their algebraic thinking from an early algebra perspective and to analyse, in this context, the preschoolers’ work.