RUME 25
2023
Omaha, Nebraska
“When are we ever going to need abstract algebra?”
Page: 984
Instructors who prepare prospective teachers should provide opportunities for them to make connections between Abstract Algebra and secondary mathematics. This study focuses on an instructor who guided prospective teachers to connect properties of algebraic structures with equation solving procedures by evoking their intellectual needs (Harel, 2013) for computation, structure, causality, and communication. The students resolved such intellectual needs by using ring properties as tools to justify their solutions to equations. We characterize the intellectual needs the instructor evoked, along with her pedagogical moves used to evoke them during class discussion. We discuss how we will extend this analysis and provide implications for teaching.