Development of Pre-service Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Skills in Interpretation of Student Thinking in the Context of Lesson Study

Authors : Nadide YILMAZ, İ Elif YETKIN OZDEMIR

Pages : 67-72

View : 18 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2019-09-20

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Mathematics teachers’ knowledge of students’ thinking has an important effect on the teaching-learning process insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Cai, Ding & Wang, 2014; Clarkson & Presmeg, 2008);. Teachers who understand student thinking sufficiently can interpret student thinking effectively and can anticipate student misconceptions, difficulties, and errors. Furthermore, they can overcome these challenges with appropriate explanations insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(An, Kulm & Wu, 2004; Ball, Thames & Phelps, 2008);. The research revealed, however, that teachers/pre-service teachers have difficulty interpreting student thinking insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Crepso, 2000; 2003);. This led to the conclusion that pre-service teachers need to develop skills in understanding and interpreting the student perspective insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(Hiebert, Morris & Glass 2003);. The scope of this study was to improve pre-service middle school mathematics teachers’ knowledge and interpretation of student thinking through lesson study. Three senior pre-service teachers participated in this study. Pre-service teachers implemented three practice lesson study cycles in a real classroom. Data was obtained from documents, video recordings, observations, field notes, and reflective papers. In order to analyze data, content analysis was used. Results showed that the pre-service teachers had some challenges knowing and interpreting student thinking at the beginning of the study. As lesson study cycles proceeded, pre-service teachers began to take into account student thinking, design and implement lesson plans according to students’ needs and difficulties . 
Keywords : Teachers` knowledge of students, Discussion skills, Lesson study