Relationship Between Representations and Cognitive Learning Tasks Developed in Preservice Teachers' Teaching of Whole Numbers

• In Event: Studying and Improving Math Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Mathematical representations presumably play varying roles in facilitating different cognitive learning tasks that students engage with when learning mathematics. As such, preservice teachers are expected to develop effective representations in their mathematics instruction. Drawing on video-taped teaching data from preservice teachers, this study examined the relationship between the kinds and quality of representations and the cognitive learning tasks that preservice teachers developed for teaching whole numbers. It found that across all cognitive levels of tasks, pictorial representations and the set model were the most popular and most frequently used to engage students in Level 3 Procedures with Connections tasks. Overall, the higher the cognitive level of tasks, the higher the clarity and precision of representations, except for Level 4 tasks.

Authors

• Minju Yi, Texas Tech University

• Raymond Flores, Texas Tech University

• Jian Wang, Texas Tech University

• Elizabeth Goldberg, Texas Tech University

• Jasmine Torain, Austin Independent School District

• Yvonne Casares Khan, Texas Tech University