Prospective Teacher’s Knowledge of Principal Uses of Variables

Year 2007, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 1 - 18, 01.01.2007

Nihat Boz

Abstract

In this study, prospective teachers’ knowledge of principal uses of variables will be explored. 184 prospective mathematics teachers from three different universities and different year groups completed a questionnaire. After analysing the questionnaires by means of categorisation of responses, 10 students were selected and interviewed. The results indicate that prospective teachers are comfortable with using letters in familiar contexts where the variables assume the role of unknowns. On the other hand, students have difficulties in using letters as generalised numbers or arguments in functional relationships. They could not give appropriate kinds of proof according to the level of questions. Their responses show that they are accustomed to produce mechanistic answers to routine questions. This kind of understanding can be labelled as ‘action level’ of understanding. The main underlying reasons of such problems may be due to the fact that at schools students are imposed to get the right answers in a shortest possible time. Therefore, they put the meaning aside, and focus on getting answers right. In order to help students to give importance to meaning, educators have to create classroom contexts where students are searching for meaning at every stage of learning

Keywords

Prospective teachers, knowledge, understanding, variables, unknown, generalized number

Öğretmen Adaylarının Değişkenlerin Kullanımı ile İlgili Bilgileri

Abstract

Bu çalışmada öğretmen adaylarının değişkenler hakkındaki bilgileri incelenecektir. Üç farklı üniversiteden ve farklı sınıflardan 184 öğretmen adayından anketlerle veri toplanmıştır. Bu anketlerin kategorilere konularak analizinden sonra 10 öğretmen adayı seçilip röportaj yapılmıştır. Öğretmen adayları harfleri, alışkın olduğu durumlarda yani harflerin bilinmeyen rolü aldığı durumlarda kolayca kullanıyorlar. Diğer yandan harfleri genel sayı ya da fonksiyonlarda değişken olarak kullanmada zorlanıyorlar. Soruların seviyesine uygun ispat çeşitlerini kullanmıyorlar. Cevapları, rutin sorulara şipşak cevaplar vermeye hazır olduklarını gösteriyor. Bu çeşit bir anlayış ‘eylem seviyesinde’ bir anlayış olarak etiketlendirilebilir. Bu sorunun altında yatan ana sebep okullarımızda öğrencilerimizin en kısa sürede doğru cevabı bulmayı empoze edilmesiyle ilgili olabilir. Bu nedenle manayı bir kenara bırakıp, doğru cevabı bulmaya odaklanıyor olabilirler. Öğrencilerin manaya önem vermelerine yardımcı olmak için öğrencilerin öğrenmelerinin her aşamasında manayı aramalarına olanak sağlayacak sınıf ortamları oluşturmalıyız

Keywords

Öğretmen adayları, bilgi, anlama, değişkenler, bilinmeyen, genel sayı

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