Pre-service Mathematics Teachers Research Articles

Problem-Solving Skills and Difficulties of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers in Non-Routine Problems

Problem-Solving Skills and Difficulties of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers in Non-Routine Problems

Analisis Kemampuan Numerasi Mahasiswa Calon Guru Matematika

Preservice mathematics teachers will eventually become mathematics teachers and teach mathematics in schools to students. Therefore, it is important to assess the numeracy skills of preservice mathematics teachers to develop their numeracy skills, which will positively impact students once they start teaching in schools. This study aims to describe the numeracy skills of preservice mathematics teachers about numeracy, including how well they can explore mathematical concepts in problems related to numeracy. This study is a qualitative descriptive. The subjects of this study are 28 mathematics education students from the University of Mataram. The instruments used in this study are questionnaires and tasks containing numeracy problems using the Sasak cultural context. Data analysis employs descriptive qualitative analysis, which includes data transcription, categorization, data presentation, description of the numeracy skills of teacher candidates, and conclusion. The results show that, in general, students have not been able to distinguish between numeracy and mathematics. Additionally, students still face difficulties in designing numeracy-oriented learning, especially using the socio-cultural context

The Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Views on the Process of Mathematics Literacy Problem Writing

The Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Views on the Process of Mathematics Literacy Problem Writing

Thematic Modeling of Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Reflections on ChatGPT Use: Appraisals, Ethical Challenges and Aspirations

Thematic Modeling of Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Reflections on ChatGPT Use: Appraisals, Ethical Challenges and Aspirations

Preservice secondary science and mathematics teachers' readiness to teach multilingual learners: An investigation across four teacher education programs

AbstractIn this mixed methods study, we analyzed survey and interview data from 100 preservice secondary science and mathematics teachers enrolled in four teacher education programs (TEPs) to investigate their readiness to teach multilingual learners. We defined readiness as preservice teachers' sense of preparedness to teach multilingual learners and their understanding of effective multilingual learner instruction. We examined participants' self‐reported levels of preparedness, their understanding of effective multilingual learner instruction, and sources contributing to and/or limiting their readiness. We found that participants' readiness to teach multilingual learners significantly increased between the beginning and end of their TEPs. We also found that participants' understanding of effective multilingual learner instruction was significantly associated with a higher sense of preparedness. Furthermore, we found that participants enrolled in graduate TEPs reported higher levels of preparedness than participants enrolled in an undergraduate TEP. Likewise, participants whose first language was other than or in addition to English reported higher levels of preparedness. Finally, participants identified field placement experiences, personal and professional background, and coursework as factors contributing to their readiness to teach multilingual learners. We close with recommendations for teacher educators intent on helping preservice teachers better understand and implement effective instruction for multilingual learners.

Effectiveness of ICT-integrated pedagogy on pre-service teachers’ teaching competence in mathematics

The influence of teachers’ teaching competence on students’ academic performance is pivotal, prompting an examination of the efficacy of ICT-integrated pedagogy in enhancing the teaching competence of pre-service mathematics teachers. This quasi-experimental research employed a pre-test, and post-test control group design involving 30 pre-service teachers, with 15 participants assigned to both the experimental and control groups. Throughout a four-week duration, the experimental group received instruction utilizing ‘ICT-integrated pedagogy,’ while the control group was taught applying traditional ‘Lecture-based pedagogy.’ Employing a ‘Mathematics Teaching Competence Scale,’ both cohorts were assessed prior to and following the intervention, with data subjected to analysis using descriptive statistics and t-tests in SPSS version 20. The results revealed that pre-service teachers in the experimental group, exposed to ‘ICT-integrated pedagogy,’ demonstrated superior mathematics teaching competency compared to their counterparts in the control group. These findings advocate for the positive impact of ICT-integrated pedagogical approaches in nurturing the teaching proficiency of pre-service teachers. Consequently, this study suggests the widespread implementation of this approach by Teacher Educators, envisioning its potential to engender competent and high-quality teachers.

Characteristic of Video Clips of Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Ability to Notice

Noticing is the teacher's ability to pay attention to critical moments during learning. The noticing ability of preservice mathematics teachers can be trained by watching video recordings of teaching practices. However, there are limited video clips that can be used as teaching materials to develop the noticing abilities of preservice mathematics teachers. Therefore, this study aims to identify the characteristic of preservice mathematics teacher’s ability to notice. Video clips consist of a series of significant moments to observe. This research used a survey of moments in video recordings of preservice mathematics teachers when noticing their students' thinking in the learning process. The data analysis was based on learning video clips, containing the complexity of noticing problems related to the preservice mathematics teacher’s ability. The results indicated that the identified video clips, recordings of classroom interactions, featured teacher activities such as asking, guiding, responding, and assisting students. However, the preservice teachers demonstrated a low ability to notice, particularly in the interpreting and shaping aspects. These video clips, specifically those that highlight these teacher activities, can be utilized as learning tools in teacher development programs to enhance preservice teachers' noticing skills, especially in interpreting and shaping aspects.

Structural quality assessment of the villagemath instructional content platform

Background: The integration of culturally-based mathematics education is vital for making learning meaningful and relevant. The VillageMath platform was developed as a web-based ethnomathematics instructional content repository to address this need.Aims: This study aims to evaluate the structural quality of the VillageMath educational intervention, focusing on its navigation, structure, and appearance.Method: The study employed a developmental research design, involving 341 pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers in Benue State, Nigeria. The VillageMath platform was developed using WordPress Version 5.4, hosted online at https://VillageMath.net, on a Linux OS server with cPanel v80.p (Build 20), Apache Version 2.4.39, PHP Version 5.6.40, and MySQL Version 5.7.26. The Web-based Ethnomathematics Instructional Content Repository Assessment Questionnaire (WEICRAQ) was used as the research instrument. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer three research questions regarding the quality assessment of the web tool.Results: The analysis revealed that both pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers rated the VillageMath platform highly in terms of navigation, structure, and appearance.Conclusion: The findings indicate that VillageMath is a structurally sound platform that can be utilized by mathematics teacher educators in higher education institutions. The platform serves as a reliable tool for promoting narratives in ethnomathematics and provides a forum for experts to share and develop innovative pedagogical strategies, particularly those highlighting African indigenous knowledge systems.

Analysis of Topics Perceived Difficult by Pre-service Mathematics Teachers and Lecturers in Colleges of Education in Niger State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to investigate the topics perceived as difficult by pre-service mathematics teachers and Mathematics lecturers in Colleges of Education in Niger State, Nigeria. One Hundred and seven (107) 300 level Pre-service Mathematics Teachers and Seventeen (17) Lecturers were purposively selected from two (2) Colleges of Education in Niger State, Nigeria. A twenty-three items questionnaire named Mathematics Topic Analysis Questionnaire (MTAQ) with two sections was administered to respondents (Pre-service Mathematics Teachers and Mathematics Lecturers). The questionnaire was validated by experts, and its internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's Alpha, which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.87. Data analysis was done using Mean and Standard deviation and independent sample t-test. A criterion means of 2.5 was set as the basis for judgment. A mean score of 2.5 and above indicated an easy topic, while less than 2.5 indicated a difficult topic. Findings revealed that Pre-service Mathematics teachers perceived 9 topics as difficult to comprehend while 3 topics were perceived as difficult to teach by Mathematics lecturers. The study also showed that Pre-service Mathematics teachers’ gender has no significant influence on their perception of difficult topics in mathematics. It was therefore recommended that students should be encouraged and motivated to learn mathematics, curriculum developers should develop instructions that would improve students’ knowledge by laying more emphasis on the perceived difficulty areas in mathematics and further studies should be conducted to find out the factors responsible for the perceived difficulty and also if there is a relationship between perception and students’ achievement.

Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Promotion of Self-Regulation (PSRL) in Time: A Mixed Methods Study

This mixed methods study was conducted to investigate mathematics preservice teachers’ (PTs) promotion of self-regulated learning (PSRL) with respect to time through participation in a self-regulated learning (SRL) enriched seminar course. PTs’ self-efficacy beliefs for promotion of self-regulation (SE-PSRL) over time was also investigated. Forty-four PTs participated in the study. They were divided into two sections and the SRL enriched seminar course was implemented with the experimental group for one academic term. The control group followed a parallel course without a particular focus on SRL. Participants were administered two different scales that measured their SE-PSRL and PSRL four times during the semester. Qualitative data were also gathered through semi-structured interviews with 9 participants. Mixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted separately for SE-PSRL and PSRL scores to investigate the differences between the groups with respect to time. Results of the study indicated that while participants’ SE-PSRL scores differed statistically (F(3,126) = 9.13, p = .00, η2= 0.18), PSRL scores did not differ according to time and group (F(3,126) = 0.20, p = .90, η2= 0.01). The results from the quantitative analyses did not exactly conform with the hypotheses and interview data pointed towards various reasons for such unanticipated findings.

Nurturing Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Reasoning about Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

This study aimed to examine the development of preservice mathematics teachers’ reasoning about measures of central tendency and variability. To this end, a classroom teaching experiment enriched by four compelling learning activities was conducted with 14 preservice teachers. The activities in the teaching experiment were designed to promote classroom discussion and collaboration. The study’s data comprised the video recordings of class sessions, field notes, and participants’ artifacts. The findings revealed the ideas about statistical measures generated by the preservice teachers based on their communal reasoning in the classroom. When using appropriate statistical measures for the context, they made sense of the measures of central tendency as indicators of certainty in situations including uncertainty. In other words, they could integrate central tendency and variability measures rather than just focusing on them independently. This study has valuable implications for teacher education in developing preservice teachers’ statistical reasoning on central tendency and variability measures.

Measuring Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowlede in the Post-Pandemic Era

Measuring Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowlede in the Post-Pandemic Era

Students' Errors in Constructing Mathematical Proofs by Direct Method

In mathematics, there are several methods for proving mathematical statements, two of them are direct method and indirect method. Both the methods were included in the mathematics curriculum at senior high school level as a learning topic. It implied that the teachers or pre-service teachers must master these methods. In addition, learning advanced mathematics courses also needed the ability of mathematical proving. The direct method was often used in proving mathematical statements. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted to examine what errors were written by the students in constructing mathematical proofs by direct method. Two basic problems (mathematical statements) were administered to 13 college students. They were pre-service mathematics teachers in one of the public universities in Aceh, Indonesia, and were asked to prove the statements by direct method. The data were analyzed by using Miles and Huberman step. The results showed that there were three main errors, (1) errors in using definition correctly, (2) errors in algebraic process, and (3) proving by examples. It concluded that the students must be accustomed to mathematical proving activities to avoid errors in constructing mathematical proofs. Keywords: constructing mathematical proofs, direct method, students’ errors

Radian π: Concept images evoked by quantitative representations of radian angle measure

ABSTRACT This article investigates evoked concept images (CIs) of seven secondary preservice mathematics teachers (PMTs) as they interact with different types of representations of radian angle measure. A thematic analysis indicates that representations emphasizing quantitative aspects of angle measure evoke conceptions that are attuned to quantitative elements of radian angle measure. Specifically, quantitative representations evoked CIs relating the length of the arc subtending the angle to the radius. Non-quantitative representations evoked CIs of radian in terms of π or in relation to degrees, even when the representation did not contain angles in these measurements. To foster a quantitative understanding of radian angle measure, teachers and curriculum developers are encouraged to consider how visual representations might support students in conceptualizing radian angle measure quantitatively.

Mathematical Thinking Among Pre-Service Teachers: A Critical Component of Teacher Preparation

This research examined pre-service mathematics teachers' mathematical thinking abilities, focusing on problem-solving, mathematical representation, reasoning, mathematical communication, and mathematical connection. Additionally, the study aimed to determine whether there were significant differences in mathematical thinking between pre-service students majoring and minoring in mathematics. The research employed a quantitative approach and involved 277 pre-service mathematics teachers enrolled in the Mathematics Teaching course at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Malaysia. The research design utilized a survey method, and data were collected through a mathematical thinking questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using statistic descriptive including mean and standard deviation, while inferential statistics use t-test analyses. The study results revealed that the overall mean is 4.506, followed by standard deviation is 0.541, indicating that the pre-service teachers show a higher positive mathematical thinking. The result also shows a significant relationship between problem-solving, mathematical representation, reasoning, mathematical communication and mathematical connection. The findings also indicated significant differences in mathematical thinking between pre-service mathematics teachers based on gender. Lastly, the result shows that the study recommended the inclusion of mathematical thinking development in teacher education programs to enhance the mathematical thinking abilities of pre-service mathematics teachers. In conclusion, mathematical thinking is an essential aspect of teacher preparation, as it contributes to ensuring the quality of the next generation.

“I’m a bit out of place here.”—Preservice teachers’ positioning in the figured world of university mathematics

Preservice mathematics teachers are sometimes trained in programs so that they have both their own courses and joint courses with mathematics majors from the beginning of their studies. While this is thought to provide them with both deep mathematical knowledge and teaching-specific content right from the start, many of them report disaffection with and disengagement from mathematics during their very first semester. Current approaches often frame this from an individual’s perspective, investigating cognitive and affective individual differences among students. In contrast, we aim to understand this issue from a sociocultural perspective, examining underlying social processes. In this study, we thus explored preservice teachers’ experiences of the mathematics component of their training, using Holland and colleagues’ theory of figured worlds as a theoretical lens. Three group interviews with 14 preservice higher secondary teachers in a common mixed setting in Germany (one course specific to preservice teachers, one general mathematics course together with major students) were analyzed. Our findings displayed that the preservice teachers experienced two dichotomous figured worlds of mathematics and mathematics teaching. Our further analysis of their positioning between these worlds provided new insights to explain their disaffection, disengagement, and consequent learning behavior. We discuss practical implications, focusing on different teaching systems and interventions in teacher education.

PERCEIVED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS PREDICTORS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHING ANXIETY AMONG MATHEMATICS PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether perceived professional development needs and emotional intelligence predicts mathematics teaching anxiety among mathematics pre-service teacher. This study employed descriptive and correlational designs. Using the stratified random sampling, 103 mathematics pre-service teachers were selected as participants from Davao del Nortes seven higher education institutions during the school year 2021–2022. Moreover, this study utilized three adapted and validated survey questionnaires to gather data, which were treated using mean, Pearson-r, and regression analysis. The findings suggested that pre-service teachers perceived professional development needs are highly addressed, and emotional intelligence is manifested most of the time. Furthermore, the mathematics teaching anxiety of mathematics pre-service teachers is less evident. Findings also revealed that both perceived professional development needs and emotional intelligence exhibit a significant negative correlation with mathematics teaching anxiety. In addition, only perceived professional development needs to predict mathematics teaching anxiety among mathematics pre-service teachers. Future researchers may consider the studys findings which may help them uncover other factors that might improve the conduct of perceived professional development needs and emotional intelligence in relation to mathematics teaching anxiety among mathematics pre-service teachers. With these, teachers and school administrators are encouraged to address professional development needs and assess and boost emotional intelligence to help eliminate mathematics teaching anxiety among mathematics pre-service teachers. KEYWORDS: mathematics education, perceived professional development needs, emotional intelligence, mathematics teaching anxiety, pre-service teachers, descriptive and correlational designs, regression analysis, Philippines

Bridging Gaps: Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Handling the Difficulties in Posing Real-World Mathematical Problems

Real-world mathematical problem (RWMP) solving and posing are important aspects of teaching and learning mathematical modelling, as well as developing a mathematization disposition for both teachers and students. Several researchers have explored blockages or difficulties in such modelling processes and in problem posing. However, prior research has identified difficulties that the pre-service mathematics teachers (PSMTs) encountered when they tried to pose a modelling problem by choosing the general topic themselves, as there is little known about possible obstacles that PSMTs can encounter when trying to pose a real-world problem relevant to a given mathematical topic. The current study explored the difficulties encountered by PSMTs in a RWMP-posing activity. The target group was 23 PSMTs with prior experience in mathematical modelling and mathematical problem posing. The findings showed that the PSMTs struggled with: (a) task organization, which involved selecting and understanding mathematical knowledge; (b) specialized content knowledge, which included a lack of real-world knowledge and difficulty in connecting mathematical concepts to real-world contexts; and (c) individual considerations of aptness, which encompassed authenticity, interest, complexity, language, and relevance to task organization. The PSMTs applied various strategies to complete the posing task, such as using problem-posing and solving heuristics, adapting existing problems, sharing and discussing with friends, and considering the perspective of a typical student. The implications of these findings should help in developing preparatory instructional practices for mathematics teachers.

Pre-service mathematics teachers' performance prediction using a modified Mann-Tseng forward-backward splitting algorithm

Pre-service mathematics teachers' performance prediction using a modified Mann-Tseng forward-backward splitting algorithm

Use of game-based educational entertainment media to foster mathematical problem-solving proficiency in pre-service mathematics teachers

<span lang="EN-ID">The capacity to solve mathematical problems is an essential component of the professional abilities that pre-service instructors of mathematics are required to possess. When it comes to coping with technological advancements in the sphere of education, this skill serves as the foundation. For the purpose of enhancing one's capacity to solve mathematical problems, this study proposes an innovative method that involves the use of game-based educational entertainment media (GEM). Within the realm of development research, this research technique focuses on the ways in which problem-solving skills can be enhanced by participation in activities that are based on game-based entertainment media. The ADDIE phases—analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation—are the steps that are utilised in the process of development. The GEM was utilised by 94 pre-service mathematics teachers who participated in this research. GEM is effective in developing mathematical problem-solving skills, according to the findings of the research. This is accomplished by encouraging pre-service mathematics teachers to identify problems, model them, solve problems mathematically, and assess the results of their efforts.</span>