Turkish Pre-service Middle Level Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge for Teaching Fractions

Abstract

Fractions are a crucial mathematical topic, which is known as being challenging for both students, pre- and in-service teachers. The current study attempted to explore the extent of pre-service middle level mathematics teachers’ knowledge for teaching fractions. Fifty-one senior pre-service teachers took part in the study. The Knowledge for Teaching Fractions Test, which includes almost all characteristics of fractions, was employed to measure participants’ knowledge for teaching fractions. The Pre-service Teachers’ Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching Framework was used to conceptualize participants’ responses to the tasks in the Knowledge for Teaching Fractions Test. The findings showed that participants’ mathematical knowledge for teaching fractions was not satisfactory. Meanwhile, while they had sound common content knowledge for teaching fractions, their specialized content knowledge for teaching this topic was very poor. The implications for teaching fractions are discussed in the context of pre-service middle level teacher preparation.