How group theory and school mathematics are connected: an identification of mathematics in-service teachers

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of the article is to describe the IMTs’ identified mathematical connection between group theory and school mathematics curriculums in Indonesia. The data was gathered from the IMTs who involved in the Teachers Professional Training (TPT) program. The study used the concept-by-concept framework through a descriptive qualitative approach, to analyze how IMT’s connect the group theory and school mathematics contents. The results reveal that the IMTs’ identified connection classified as a concept by concept which align to the comparison through common features categorize. Even though the IMTs have the teaching experience both junior and senior high school, however; the identified connection tends to be too general based on the curriculum on school mathematics. The teaching experience that the subjects have, seems to affect the way the subject created the connections. Nevertheless, it shows that the IMTs could recall and create the mathematical connection between group theory and school mathematics with adjusted to the school curriculum. For mathematics teachers’ education programs, the results could be a consideration for designing a mathematics school textbook which is strongly supported by group theory concept as university mathematics.