Prospective primary school mathematics teachers’ professional knowledge of the ‘House of Quadrilaterals’

Ana Kuzle

doi:10.31129/LUMAT.14.1.2979

Authors

Ana Kuzle University of Potsdam, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31129/LUMAT.14.1.2979

Keywords:

hierarchical classification of quadrilaterals, mathematics teacher education, primary education, professional knowledge, prospective mathematics teachers

Abstract

Mathematics teachers ought to possess solid knowledge of different school mathematics topics. Though classification of quadrilaterals (‘House of Quadrilaterals’) is an important and integral part of geometry curricula worldwide, research reports on learners’ difficulties understanding this particular geometric topic. The goal of this paper was to examine what professional knowledge on concept formation, using the example of the ‘House of Quadrilaterals’, prospective primary school mathematics teachers exhibited after attending a two-semester geometry course. For this purpose, an exploratory mix-methods study with 95 prospective primary school mathematics teachers was conducted. Capturing different facets of their professional knowledge of the aforementioned topic was based on analyzing a single task with three sub-tasks on concept formation. Descriptive statistics revealed satisfactory achievement with the majority of the prospective primary school mathematics teachers achieving more than half of the points. The results of the qualitative content analysis revealed an in-depth insight into a wide range of competence levels in all facets of professional knowledge. In the context of adopting one student’s conception of a square and (general) quadrilateral, identifying possible causes of underlying student’s misconceptions, and describing theory-driven suggestions for their prevention, deficits in prospective primary school mathematics teachers’ content and pedagogical content knowledge were evident. Especially, establishing links between specific sub-tasks and the subject-specific facets of professional knowledge proved to be challenging. Consequently, implications for mathematics teacher education pertaining to (re)design of courses that would support the development of prospective teachers’ professional knowledge, are provided. Furthermore, alternative study designs are discussed, which would enable a more in-depth assessment of prospective primary school mathematics teachers’ professional knowledge.

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