The Analysis of Problem Posing Skills about Integers of Prospective Primary School Mathematics Teachers Who Have Experienced in Problem Posing

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the problem-posing skills of primary school mathematics teacher candidates with problem-posing experience and their views on problem posing. The case study, one of the qualitative studies, was used in the study. The study group is ten prospective elementary mathematics teachers who were selected using the purposive sampling method and are in their third year in the academic years 2020-2021 Teaching Mathematics in Primary Schools Major at a private university in Istanbul.The data collection process consists of two stages: 9 problem-posing drafts in total for performance evaluation prepared by examining the literature and obtaining an expert opinion and semi-structured interview forms with three questions. The participants were asked to pose problems on the subject of integers. The problems were evaluated and analyzed by the researchers and two mathematics teachers according to the problem-posing evaluation criteria developed by the researchers. As a result of the findings obtained in the performance determination phase of the study, it was determined that the participants posed more successful problems in the case of structured problem posing. It was determined that some of the problems were not problematic; they were prepared without paying attention to grammar rules, the sentences were not in a clear and logical framework that the middle school students could understand. The numbers were not used according to a certain logic pattern to make the problem solvable. Some problem situations were left unanswered. In the second stage of the study, the data obtained through semi-structured interviews with the primary school mathematics prospective teachers were analyzed using content analysis. In examining the research findings, the main issues are what the participants pay attention to in problem setting, whether they emphasize problem setting in the instructional process, whether problem setting is necessary for each student, and whether anxiety occurs in problem setting.