Beyond computation: Assessing in-service mathematics teachers’ conceptual understanding of fraction division through problem posing
Date
2023-12-15
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Asian Journal for Mathematics Education
Abstract
Problem posing has long been recognized as a critically important teaching method and goal in the area of mathematics education. However, few studies have used problem posing to assess in-service teachers’ mathematical understanding. The present study investigated in-service teachers’ mathematical understanding of fraction division, which is often considered challenging content in elementary school, from three angles: computation, drawing, and problem posing. Two studies involving 66 and 193 primary and middle school teachers were conducted to reveal the in-service teachers’ mathematical understanding and whether drawing and problem posing affected each other. Although the in-service teachers rarely had the opportunity to pose mathematical problems in their daily teaching, they were able to pose mathematical problems in this study. In addition, problem-posing tasks were more useful in diagnosing the in-service teachers’ conceptual understanding than were computation or drawing. Thus, problem posing seems to have contributed to their conceptual understanding of fraction division on the drawing task.
Description
This article was originally published in Asian Journal for Mathematics Education. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/27527263231217826. © The Author(s) 2023.
Keywords
problem posing, conceptual understanding, drawing, in-service mathematics teachers
Citation
Yao, Y., Jia, S., & Cai, J. (2023). Beyond computation: Assessing in-service mathematics teachers’ conceptual understanding of fraction division through problem posing. Asian Journal for Mathematics Education, 2(4), 413-429. https://doi.org/10.1177/27527263231217826