Yasin Soylu

Examining prospective mathematics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge on fractions in terms of students' mistakes

The aim of the study is to examine prospective mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in terms of knowledge of understanding students and knowledge of instructional strategies which are the subcomponents of pedagogical content knowledge. The participants of this research consist of 98 prospective teachers who are studying in two universities in Turkey. The participants were selected with the purposive sampling method which is one of the non-random sampling methods. Case study method, which is based on the qualitative research approach, was used. The answers given by secondary school students to fraction-related open-ended questions in the study of Soylu and Soylu were used as the data collection tool. The obtained data were analyzed via the content analysis technique. The analyses showed that the prospective mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge on fractions was not at an adequate level in identifying and correcting students’ errors. However, it was observed that the prospective teachers experienced more difficulty in the knowledge of instructional strategies compared to the knowledge of understanding students.

Development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Classroom Teachers on the Numbers in Terms of Two Components.

The aim of the study is to examine whether classroom teachers‟ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) on numbers develops in the period from their university education to their active teaching profession. Cross-sectional comparative study method was used in this research in order to examine what kind of development classroom teachers‟ pedagogical content knowledge exhibited from their university education to the period in which they actively operate within teaching profession. The sample of the study is composed of 164 pre-service teachers and 53 in-service teachers working in different primary schools in the province. The Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge Test (MPCKT) developed by Kwong, et al. (2007) was used as a data collection tool. According to the results of the study, it was observed that knowledge levels of the prospective teachers in terms of PCK sub-components has not developed as directly proportional depending on the class level and teaching profession.