An Investigation of the Complexity of the Problems Posed by Prospective Teachers: The Case of Whole Number

Abstract

The aim of this case study is to examine the linguistic and mathematical complexity of the problems that prospective primary school teachers posed related to four operations with whole numbers. A Problem Posing Questionnaire was administered to 64 participants and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 of 64 participants. The data was analyzed through frequency analysis and descriptive analysis. The findings of the study revealed that many prospective teachers posed problems based on the single-statement problem root, without any relation/condition. That is, the linguistic complexity of the problems written by the prospective teachers is in the lowest level which is regarded as assignment category, regardless of the complexity of the problem situation. Furthermore, if the problem situations do not contain any relationship, then many prospective teachers had preferred to pose one-step problems. On the other hand, when the information in the problem situation is related to each other, then they were able to pose multi-step problems which could be regarded as complex problems in terms of mathematically. It can be concluded that although the complexity of the problem situation given to the prospective teachers does not affect the linguistic complexity of the problems they pose; it affects the mathematical complexity.