Two avatars of teachers' content knowledge of mathematics

Authors

Patricia A. Forrester, University of WollongongFollow
Mohan Chinnappan, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

60250

Publication Details

Forrester, P. A. & Chinnappan, M. (2011). Two avatars of teachers' content knowledge of mathematics. In J. Clarke, B. Kissane, J. Mousley, T. Spencer & S. Thornton (Eds.), Mathematics Traditions and [New] Practices AAMT/MERGA Conference 2011 (pp. 261-269). Alice Springs N.T.: AAMT & MERGA.

Abstract

In this research we explore pre-service teacher knowledge for teaching mathematics by focusing on the development of the conceptual and procedural knowledge of a cohort of pre-service teachers. In the first phase of this study, we found that a previous cohort of pre-service teachers utilised procedural rather than conceptual knowledge when completing fraction operations. We aimed to address this imbalance by targeting the development of conceptual knowledge through modelling. This paper reports the results of this approach with a subsequent cohort of pre-service teachers, where our expectation of greater conceptual knowledge was achieved and procedural knowledge was maintained.