PRE-SERVICE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF MATHEMATICS FOR TEACHING: QUADRATIC FUNCTIONS
Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2018, Vol 76, Issue 6
Abstract
Many researchers and education stakeholders in South Africa point to the need to develop teachers' personal knowledge of the mathematics concepts that they teach to their learners. In this research study we explore the understanding of 42 pre-service mathematics teachers of one aspect of school level mathematics, that of quadratic functions. Data were generated from the written responses to an assessment as well as semi-structured interviews. The purpose was to explore the methods used by pre-service mathematics teachers to derive a symbolic equation for a quadratic function expressed in graphical form. Furthermore, we looked at whether the pre-service teachers were able to use different methods to generate the symbolic equation. The results showed that 25 participants were able to determine the equation of a parabola using one method, while 11 of them were able to use two different methods. The most common method used was based on the intercept form of the equation. Some students identified different forms that the equation of a quadratic function could be expressed as but were unable to apply this to derive the equation. These results indicate that these students are not yet ready to teach these school level concepts even though they have studied advanced mathematics topics as part of their pre-service training. The study recommends that pre-service teachers should also be provided with more structured opportunities to help develop pedagogic content knowledge of the school level content as part of their teacher training programme.
Authors and Affiliations
Ifunanya Julie Adaobi Ubah, Sarah Bansilal
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP35568
- DOI -
- Views 410
- Downloads 0
GENDER AND REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN ENROLMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN KENYA: IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION PLANNING
According to the requirements of the educational millennium development goals, countries are supposed to ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike complete a full course of primary education and eli...
ARE ICT BEING USED CORRECTLY? SMALL REFLECTION ABOUT CORRECT USING OF ICT IN EDUCATION
Dear readers, I would like to thank for the space for writing a short reflection about one of the problems, which is occurring in education. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are considered a tool, which c...
LEARNING ASSESSMENT VIEWS AND PERCEPTIONS OF FINNISH TEACHERS AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN POSTGRADUATE PHYSICS STUDIES
The way teachers view assessment has a considerable impact on their practice of assessment. Student perceptions of assessment, in turn, affect the ways in which they take advantage of its potential to direct their lear...
SCIENCE BY AND FOR EVERYONE: A NEW APPROACH FOR BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SECONDARY SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY
Science by and for everyone Programme provides varied activities through the Centre for Research and Support of Scientific Education (CIAEC). The improvement of both the sciences teaching and learning at different educa...
application of software quality models in eValuation of study quality
The analysis and comparison of quality assurance of the development processes, quality models and quality evaluation of the results in software development allows observing a set of similar characteristics through the...