Configuring the landscape of research on problem-solving in mathematics teacher education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to configure the landscape of empirical mathematics educational research on problem-solving in teacher education, and thereby disentangle how mathematical problem-solving is understood and used. The method consists of a configurative review of empirical mathematics education research on problem-solving in teacher education. A two-dimensional model is presented to illustrate how different aspects of problem-solving in teacher education are connected to and complement each other. Using the model, the configuration results in the proposition of four major categories of research on problem-solving in teacher education. The result indicates an almost equal distribution of research which views problem-solving as an aim for mathematics education versus research which views problem-solving as a means for learning mathematics. However, within the former, roughly three quarters of the articles focus on content knowledge, and only a quarter on pedagogical content knowledge. Implications for teacher education and future research are discussed.

Mathematical reasoning of prospective mathematics teachers in solving problems based on working memory capacity differences

“…Because solving mathematical problems requires a lot of reasoning. Solving problems is a means to learn mathematics (de Ron et al, 2022;Dröse et al, 2021;Fatmanissa et al, 2020;Habtamu et al, 2022;Hokor et al, 2022;Julius, 2022;Portaankorva-Koivisto et al, 2021;Ramdani et al, 2019). Learning aims to understand the concept being studied (Langi et al, 2021).…”