PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF PROOF
ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ MATEMATİKSEL İSPAT ALGILARI

Author : Zulfiye ZEYBEK
Number of pages : 593-602

Abstract

What types of mathematical justifications do pre-service elementary teachers find convincing? To investigate this question, a task-based interview which was designed to elicit arguments of what students find convincing was administered to two female students who were enrolled in a geometry course at a large Midwestern university. These arguments were categorized according to the proof schemes crafted by analyzing different studies dealing with proof. A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that these two pre-service elementary teachers have difficulties in following or constructing formally presented deductive arguments, in understanding how they differ from inductive arguments, as well as holding explicit misconceptions about proving (or disproving) statements such as: “a couple of examples constitute proof or one counterexample is not sufficient to disprove a statement.”

Keywords

Deductive reasoning, Misconceptions, Proofs, Pre-service teachers

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