Teacher trainees crossing the barrier between the concrete and the abstract - (mis)understanding of geometric concepts

Abstract

In general, abstraction and correct understanding of fundamental concepts play an important role in teaching practice. A good teacher not only has to know the proper meaning of concepts, but also be able to use them correctly and recognize situations in which it is sensible to use particular terms. Pupils acquire notions of terms in their early childhood and then in primary educational level, therefore primary teachers’ correct understanding of the concepts is essential. During their university studies some teacher trainees find out that they have incorrect or insufficient notion of geometric terms. This can be remedied in several ways. Useful remedy methods can be discussions, Socratic dialogue or use of various material teaching aids. We managed to interlink these three methods in a 90-minute lesson of an optional course covered in study plan of the Teacher Training Master Programme for Primary Education at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia. The students who participated in the lesson were in their first or second year of the master degree study. The submitted contribution comprises a brief description of the lesson and a summary of findings we obtained by means of worksheets filled in by the teacher trainees.