Elementary Pre-service Teachers Views on Mathematical Problem and Problem Solving in Math Education
Author(s):
Ebru Aylar (presenting / submitting) Belma Turker (presenting) Zeynep Sonay Polat Ay Oylum Akkus Ispir
Conference:
ECER 2011
Network:
24. Mathematics Education Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

24 SES 02 A, Elementary Mathematics Teachers

Paper Session

Time:
2011-09-13
15:15-16:45
Room:
JK 28/130,G, 37
Chair:
Sheila Henderson

Contribution

Success in mathematics education, will lead to improvements in a positive way in many areas of society.Individuals who have mathematical thinking, love and interest mathematics, aware of their own learning and when necessary can develop appropriate learning strategies, no doubt, play an important role moving forward of the society.  

Certainly, it is possible with given training in this field in order to train individuals who approach to encountered problems in daily life with different and effective solution method. Problem solving method is the most effective way for developing these skills. Selected problems in math course must be interesting and related with students’ needs issues in daily life (MoNE, 2005). In this case, students’ mathematical knowledge and skills gained will be more meaningful and easier applications of this knowledge to different situations.

Students should use different problem solving strategies when they solve mathematical problems. The importance of understanding the problem, planning, controlling and using the different strategies should be provided.Students should gain success in the process of problem solving, when they feel self-confidences and when others appreciate their solutions (MoNE,2005).

As many education reform in the world, also in Turkey the changing of the mathematics program the importance attributed to problem solving teaching process has been increased. The success of such reforms depends on teachers’ who will conduct training programs adaptation and if they do not adopt, the effort will not expected to be successful.

De Mesquita ve Drake (1994) have shown that there is a direct relation between teachers’ perception of the innovation’s levels and reach to success of this innovation. The importance attributed, teachers’ who are a component of the teaching process problem solving and their conceptions belong to problem situated has become crucial because teachers can place necessary and sufficient amount of problem solving activities in their lessons, depend on  their competence about concept images’ on this field.

Consequently, the purpose of study is to investigate elementary mathematics pre-service teachers’ perception about mathematical problem and problem solving. For this purpose, this study was conducted to find the answer the following research problems.

1.           What is the understanding of elementary mathematics pre-service teachers’?

2.             What are the elementary mathematics pre-service teachers’ views related with problem solving and place of problem solving in mathematics education?

Method

The study group consists 16 pre-service teachers are studying in a public university in Ankara. Qualitative research method has been adopted and conducted by semi-structured interviews with pre-service teachers.

Expected Outcomes

The initial interviews were conducted to understand how pre-service teachers perceive and define mathematical problem. Yıldızlar (2010) mentions those features of the problem; the situation must be new to individual as being problem, individual shouldn’t know the solution, the situation must confuse his/her mind and also the problem should be solved by the help of an individual's previous life and experiences. According to the interviews it was found that 12 of pre-service teachers use phrases similar to those definitions. The other finding of the study about their thoughts on problem solving is only 5 of 16 pre-service teachers use phrases that mention on mental and solution processes. Most of them specify the importance of strategies that used and the importance of reaching to the result, and they usually also matched problem solving with setting up an equation. According to the second research questions of the study, preservice teachers mention that: • Problem solving develops reasoning and mathematical thinking. • Allows students to establish the link between mathematics and their daily life. • Problem solving is activating students in thinking and learning process. • Allows students to think practical, and to overcome difficulties daily life situations easily.

References

• De Mesquita, P. B., & Drake J. C. (1994). Educational reform and the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers implementing nongraded primary school programs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 10(3), 291–302. • MoNE (2005a). Ministry of National Education Elementary School Mathematics Curriculum: Grades 6 thru 8. Ankara: Devlet Kitapları Müdürlüğü. • Yıldızlar, M. (2001), İlköğretim Okulu Öğrencileri İçin Matematik Problemlerini Çözebilme Yöntemleri, Eylül Kitap ve Yayınevi, Ankara

Author Information

Ebru Aylar (presenting / submitting)
Ankara University
Departmant of Secondary School Science and Math. Education
Ankara
Belma Turker (presenting)
Hacettepe University, Turkey
Zeynep Sonay Polat Ay
Hacettepe University
Primary Education
Ankara
Oylum Akkus Ispir
Hacettepe University, Turkey

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