Assessing Student Teachers’ Ability in Posing Mathematical Reasoning Problems

Abstract

Assessing student teachers’ ability to pose mathematical reasoning problems within their experiences in teacher education is essential due to their increasing challenges in preparing for 21st-century learning. This study investigates the quality of mathematical reasoning problems posed by student teachers. Thirty-four student teachers at a public university in Surabaya, Indonesia, who attended an assessment lecture posed mathematical problems, where four aspects (suitability of indicators which refers to cognitive behaviour expected from the problems posed, the plausibility of the solution of the problems poses, the correctness of the solution, and language readability) were used to assess the problems posed. The results indicate that more than 70% of the studentteacher participants were successful in posing reasoning problems (either objective or subjective questions) indicated by those which are in accordance with the established criteria. However, most of the posed problems are categorised as ‘analyse’ problems instead of ‘evaluate’ or ‘create’ problems.

Keywords

• mathematical reasoning problem
• student teachers
• problem-posing