Preservice Teachers in Real-world Problem-Posing: Can They Turn a Context into Mathematical Modelling Problems?

Abstract

While problem-posing respecting real-world situations can be a promising approach for fostering modelling competence, research on modelling through problem posing is scant. This present paper aims to characterize the mathematical tasks designed by prospective teachers regarding the criteria of a modelling problem. Data were collected from fifty mathematical tasks posed by twenty-five preservice teachers as participants at a public university in Surabaya, Indonesia, within a summative test of an assessment course.The problem-posing task asked the participants to pose two different mathematical tasks from a given realworld situation. To analyze, the participants’ responses were coded as solvable or unsolvable tasks and then further coded regarding two aspects of modelling problem i.e., connection to reality and openness of a problem. Our analysis revealed that the participants tended to pose problems with authentic connections rather than artificial connections to reality. However, only a few of the posed problems were indicated to promote openness in terms of either various mathematical models or an unclear initial state, which is the crucial indicator of a modelling problem. Implications regarding modelling competence via problem-posing in preservice teacher education are discussed.