Effect of a Method Course: Improving Prospective Elementary Teachers’ Abilities to Create Word Problems

• In Event: Bringing All Variables Together: Mathematics and Teacher Preparation

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to explore how a method course improves prospective elementary teachers’ knowledge on structures of addition and subtraction word problems. Fifty-five prospective elementary teachers enrolled in a method course were asked to pose addition and subtraction word problems before and after completion of the specific unit called “Developing Meanings for the Operations”. Problems were then analyzed and categorized in light of the theoretical frame. Repeated measure design as one of the quasi-experimental designs was used in this study to measure the effects of the instruction over time. Findings suggested that although certain types of problems are extensively created by participants before the instruction, they created more diverse addition and subtraction word problems after the instruction.

Author

• Onder Koklu, Florida Gulf Coast University