Prospective Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge for Mathematical Problem Solving

Juan Luis Piñeiro, Olive Chapman, Elena Castro-Rodríguez and Enrique Castro
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Juan Luis Piñeiro: Faculty of Philosophy and Education, Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Ñuñoa 7760197, Chile
Olive Chapman: Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Elena Castro-Rodríguez: Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Enrique Castro: Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 15, 1-23

Abstract: Research on mathematics teachers’ knowledge has generally focused more on mathematics concepts than mathematical processes. This paper addresses the latter with a focus on mathematical problem solving (PS). It reports on a study that investigated the pedagogical knowledge for PS of prospective elementary school teachers of mathematics (PTs). Participants were 149 PTs at a university in Spain. They were at the end of their teacher education program. Data sources consisted of a questionnaire on knowledge of learning PS and a questionnaire on knowledge of teaching PS. Findings indicated that the PTs held combination of different levels of knowledge of PS learning and teaching. Many of them demonstrated appropriate knowledge of many characteristics for (1) PS learning consisting of student as a problem-solver, PS as a worthwhile task, non-cognitive factor related to PS, and (2) PS teaching consisting of PS teaching approaches, discourse in PS, intervention during stuck state in PS, PS assessment, and PS resources. However, there were also contradictions and limitations to their knowledge with implications for teacher education. These combination of appropriate and inappropriate knowledge resulted in some conflicts that are related to teaching actions and would limit student’ learning of PS.

Keywords: problem solving; prospective elementary school teachers; pedagogical knowledge; problem solving questionnaires (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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