"I Just Wouldn't Want to Get as Deep Into It": Preservice Teachers' Beliefs about the Role of Controversial Topics in Mathematics Education

Abstract

In this article, the authors report on the initial results of a mixed methods approach to study the beliefs that preservice teachers have about teaching real-world contexts, including those related to injustices, controversial issues, and children's home and cultural backgrounds. Data collection included a survey with 92 preservice Pre-K--8 teachers, and follow-up interviews with nine survey participants. Analysis of the data suggests that preservice teachers were open to the idea of teaching mathematics through real-world contexts, but were ambivalent regarding the use of controversial issues, and often unable to provide concrete or non-trivial examples of what these different types of real-world contexts would look like in a mathematics classroom. Based on the survey and interview findings, the authors make recommendations for future research, and for the use of controversial issues in teacher education programs.

A Portrait of Controversial Mathematics Problems and Students’ Metacognitive Awareness: A Case of Indonesia

“…The problem used in this study is the controversial one (Goldberg & Savenije, 2018;Mueller & Yankelewitz, 2014;Simic-Muller et al, 2015). A controversial issue is a situation that causes debate because of different points of view (Simic-Muller et al, 2015). Controversial problems arise as a result of understanding an unresolved problem, causing conflicts in one's thinking.…”

“…In the last five years, studies on controversial mathematical problems have been carried out. Simic-Muller et al (2015), for example, conducted research on controversial reasoning in mathematics education. Mueller and Yankelewitz (2014) revealed that controversial issues lead to many different reasons.…”

“…The students' procedures to solve controversial problems are essential to metacognitive strategies. Controversial problems refer to situations that cause debate due to different points of view (Simic-Muller et al, 2015). They are problems that are contrary to the existing schema.…”

“…The frequent emergence of unrealized controversial issues has encouraged many experts to study the controversial problems (Dewhurst, 1992;Goldberg & Savenije, 2018;Kello, 2016;Oulton et al, 2004;Simic-Muller et al, 2015). However, there is still limited research examining controversial mathematics problem-solving.…”

“…Oulton et al (2004) reported that students must develop a realistic understanding to resolve controversial problems. Meanwhile, Simic-Muller et al (2015) found that teacher candidates were open to teaching mathematics in a real-world context but conflicted over using controversial problems.…”