Examining the Problem-Posing Skills of Prospective Classroom Teachers

Abstract

The study investigates the integration of problem-posing techniques within mathematics pedagogy. The aim is to examine the competencies in posing problems by prospective fourth-grade classroom teachers during lesson preparation and figure out what changes need to be made. We designed this research as a quasi-experimental design involving 50 teacher candidates enrolled at a public university during the academic year of 2021-2022 in Turkey. We delved into the effects of problem-posing instruction by giving it to 25 prospective teachers who volunteered to be in the experimental group. We used the Problem-Posing Test as the data collection tool. The Problem-Posing Test consists of 12 distinct scenarios for posing problems, ranging from highly structured to semi-structures, and extending to open-ended problem posing situations. We collected the quantitative data using a rubric developed to evaluate the Problem Posing-Test. We employed the T-test and the Mann-Whitney U test for the analysis of quantitative data. Based on the pre-test results of problem posing, the prospective teachers’ problem-posing skills in the measurement and learning areas were insufficient. However, both groups were able to use the daily life contexts to address the problems they posed. The experimental group demonstrated a notable advantage in problem-posing skills on the post-test administered after receiving problem-posing instruction. We also concluded that problem-posing instruction positively affected the problems posed by prospective classroom teachers in the measurement and learning area. In this regard, offering an elective course on problem posing for the classroom teacher training program in education faculties would be beneficial.