Making school mathematics relevant to the students' lives is one of the teacher's responsibilities. The aim of the present study was to investigate middle-school mathematics teacher candidates' perceptions and views about connections between mathematics and the real world. The participants of the study were 152 mathematics teacher candidates from the mathematics teacher education program at a state university. The data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire. In line with the aim of the study, a qualitative research method was used. The findings of this study showed that the perceptions of teacher candidates regarding mathematics' real-world connections were limited. Most of the teacher candidates, regardless of class level, expressed that "shopping" is a real context in which mathematics is used. In addition, they also indicated "rate-ratio" and "angles" as mathematical topics/concepts that they (can) encounter frequently in daily life. On the other hand, the data showed that teacher candidates think that the use of real-world problems in mathematics lessons is likely to provide students with various benefits, especially in the cognitive sense. The findings of the study suggest that mathematics teacher training programs should offer different practices for each grade level to enrich the perceptions of mathematics teachers in terms of real-world connections.
This paper was checked for plagiarism using iThenticate during the preview process and before publication. / Bu çalışma ön inceleme sürecinde ve yayımlanmadan önce iThenticate yazılımı ile taranmıştır.
Bu çalışma ortaokul matematik öğretmen adaylarının cebirde harflerin kullanımı ile ilgili verilen sorular bağlamında öğrenci hatalarının olası kaynaklarına yönelik bilgilerini ve bu hatalar karşısında sergiledikleri öğretim yaklaşımlarını incelemiştir. Özel Öğretim Yöntemleri dersinde, derse kayıtlı 44 ortaokul matematik öğretmen adayı ile gerçekleştirilen çalışmada, öğretmen adayları kendilerine sunulan öğretim senaryolarında yer alan hatalı öğrenci çözümlerini inceleyerek öğrencilerin hatalarının olası kaynaklarını ve bu hatalara yönelik kendi yaklaşımlarını belirtmişlerdir. Çalışmanın verileri öğretmen adaylarının yazılı açıklamalarını içeren öğretim senaryoları aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları matematik öğretmen adaylarının cebirde harflerin kullanımına yönelik sorularda ortaya çıkan öğrencilerin ortak hatalarının olası kaynakları ile ilgili bilgilerinin zayıf olduğunu göstermiştir. Aynı zamanda çalışmanın bulguları öğretmen adaylarının bu hatalara nasıl yaklaşacakları yönündeki öğretim bilgilerinin de yetersiz olduğunu ortaya çıkarmıştır. Bu çalışma çeşitli matematik konularında öğretmen adaylarının öğrencilerin ortak hatalarının kaynaklarına yönelik farkındalıklarının artması ve öğrencilerin yanlış yanıtlarına cevap verme becerilerinin gelişmesi için matematik öğretmen eğitimcilerine öğrenme fırsatları sağlamalarını önermektedir.
While noticing has received extensive attention from researchers with regards to pre-service and in-service teachers, there has been little research on how pre-service mathematics teachers respond to student thinking in the mathematical discussions. The aim of the study was to investigate pre-service mathematics teachers" (PSMTs) ways of responding to student thinking and the extent they focused on student thinking while responding to them. Two PSMTs" planned lessons were observed by the university supervisor and the cooperating teacher. Data was collected through lesson plans, video recordings of the PSMTs" teaching and the observation notes by the supervisor. The constant comparative method was performed throughout the qualitative data analysis. The results initially revealed that although PSMTs could use different types of actions such as eliciting, repeating, redirecting, teaching and encouraging to respond to student thinking during their teaching experiences, their responding to student ideas did not follow a single path or a pattern for their lessons. In terms of the ways of responding, PSMTs dominantly used eliciting, repeating, and evaluating, while explaining, extending and probing student thinking were less preferred. The results provide important cases to help mathematics teacher educators to understand the PSMTs" ways of responding to student thinking and their tendencies towards being able to focus on student thinking while responding to them. Finally, the paper discusses the educational implications of the results.
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