The Investigation of Pre-service Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Subject Matter Knowledge About Probability

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 13 Sayı: 1, 348 - 362, 16.04.2017

Gamze Kurt Birel

https://doi.org/10.17860/mersinefd.306023

Cited By: 3

Öz

Because
of the change in the middle school mathematics curriculum in Turkey, it is
necessary to examine subject matter knowledge of pre-service elementary
mathematics teachers about probability. This study is significant in terms of
the Turkish mathematics education literature since it contributes to the future
curriculum efforts for elementary mathematics education programs. Data were
collected through face-to-face interviews which were focused on explanations
about basic probability concepts and an instrument which was developed for
evaluating content knowledge for probability of elementary mathematics teachers.
Since mathematics teachers should have both procedural and conceptual knowledge
regarding the concept taught, researcher aimed to understand to what extent pre-service
elementary mathematics teachers are capable of conceptual and procedural
knowledge needed for probability teaching. Findings showed that the 23
participants needed to develop their conceptual knowledge regarding probability
and they tended to behave computational oriented while solving probability
problems which showed also their higher procedural understanding. Besides, it
was concluded that they couldn’t make expected connections between probability
and statistics concepts.  

Anahtar Kelimeler

Probability, subject matter knowledge, conceptual understanding, procedural understanding, pre-service mathematics teachers

Kaynakça

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