PROCEEDINGS OF THE 22ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2019
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Teacher candidates’ cognitive styles: Understanding mathematical thinking process used in the context of mathematical modeling tasks
Page: 998
In this work we examined modeling routes, mathematical thinking styles and teaching foci of two prospective secondary teachers as they considered two modeling tasks so to consider connections between the candidates’ own modeling processes and their approaches to teaching modeling. Two questions guided the study: How might pre-service teachers’ preferred mathematical thinking styles impact their modeling routes? How might pre-service teachers’ preferred mathematical thinking styles impact their focus while contemplating how they would teach mathematical modeling? Close links were found between teacher candidates’ validation methods within the modeling process and their decisions regarding what would be important for school learners to consider. Recognizing teacher candidates’ natural approaches to modeling tasks might help teacher educators to be better positioned in developing tasks that motivate reliance on a larger repertoire of representations.