PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2015
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ (PSMTs’) understanding of abstract mathematical notions
Page: 685
Kilpatrick (1987) noted, “successful teaching, like successful communication, depends on having a good model of the other” (p. 17). Successful teaching of collegiate mathematics for PSMTs will necessitate understanding of what knowledge PSMTs may bring with them to the learning of collegiate mathematics and through what processes PSMTs construct their knowledge. Thus, in-depth analysis of PSMTs’ mathematics is of significant importance to our field for providing PSMTs with meaningful learning experiences in mathematics content courses. In this study, I intend to investigate how PSMTs construct their own knowledge of abstract mathematical notions (e.g., polynomial rings, irreducible polynomial, factorization, minimal polynomials) and, second, the difficulties that they encounter while constructing their knowledge of abstract mathematical notions.