Empirical Study of Teachers' Proportional Reasoning and Their Performance on Proportional Relationship Problems

• In Event: Divergent Methods to Study Topics in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Teachers’ knowledge of proportional relationships has important consequences for the quality of teaching they provide and student learning. Yet, relatively little is known regarding teachers’ proportional reasoning level. We investigated 244 U.S. mathematics teachers’ proportional reasoning using a non-routine ratio task and a set of ratio and proportional problems. Our findings suggest that teachers’ proportional reasoning level falls into three categories: incorrect, relative, and proportional reasoning. Moreover, teachers’ overall performance on a set of proportional relationship problems aligned with their reasoning levels. These findings indicate that a significant portion of in-service teachers struggle with reasoning proportionally and this particular problem type has the potential to capture teachers’ understanding of proportional relationships.

Authors

• Yasemin Copur-Gencturk, University of Southern California

• Clare Baek, University of Southern California

• Tenzin Doleck, McGill University