Pre-service Classroom Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge and Instructional Explanations Associated with Division

Abstract

Within the framework of qualitative research, this study is an evaluation of pre-service primary school teachers’ knowledge associated with the algorithm of division based on their responses to the questons of dividing 4057 by 15 according to place value. The study group of the research included 228 pre-service primary school teachers at Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Education taking SINO 309 Mathematics Teaching course. Of 228 total students, 153 students (67%) divided correctly, 75 students (33%) did not divide correctly and 141 students (61%) make inadequate explanations. The findings of the study indicated that pre-service primary teachers’ knowledge of algorithm of division associated with place value is inadequate for appropriate instructional explanations. All of the participants attempted to provide an explanation for the given division task. However, rather than considering the conceptual aspect of the procedure of division, most of the explanations of prospective primary teachers were in the form of restatement of procedures based on rules.