Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching Basic Algebra

Abstract

This article presents the findings of the mathematics teachers’ professional development (PD) in teaching algebra from a continuously implemented two months PD program. The program was conducted as a case study for a group of 20 secondary level mathematics teachers who are following a two-year in-service teacher training course. This program targeted to improve the secondary level mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teaching algebra. The content of the PD program included the nature of algebraic concepts, psychological aspects related to PCK, algebraic thinking and the algebraic learning styles. The result of the paired t-test indicated 0.345, a positive correlation between the post-test marks and pre-test marks. It interprets a favourable progress of the professional development (PD) program. From the interview findings, teacher trainees asserted the importance of algebraic thinking and the psychological foundation for making mathematics education effective and quality. The results asserted that the mathematics teachers’ PCK in algebra could be developed toa considerable extent from this PD program. The findings further revealed that mathematics teachers could develop their algebraic thinking from the program and it isa must. Since mathematics teachers’ PCK directly influence on students’ algebra learning and mathematics achievement, the findings of the study deepens the understanding that the mathematics teachers PCK must be developed to increase the students’ mathematics learning and understanding of the concepts. Therefore, I recommend that teacher education courses and continuous education programs must be developed in the teacher education curriculum with reforms for enhancing the quality of mathematics education in Sri Lanka.