The Relationship between Secondary School Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers' Skills in Problem Solving Dimensions and their Learning Style Characteristics

• Published in: Educational sciences : theory & practice Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 1173 - 1181
• Main Authors: Özgen, Kemal, Alkan, Hüseyin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istanbul EDAM (Educational Consultancy Ltd.) 01-04-2012; Educational Consultancy, Ltd (EDAM)
• Subjects: Age Differences; Cognitive Style; Foreign Countries; Interdisciplinary Approach; Learning Activities; Learning Processes; Mathematics Education; Mathematics Instruction; Mathematics Teachers; Preservice Teachers; Problem Solving; Scoring Rubrics; Secondary School Mathematics; Secondary School Teachers; Student Characteristics; Teaching Methods; Teaching Skills; Turkey; Turkey
• ISSN: 1303-0485

The present study examined the potential relationship between 1st and 5th year secondary school pre-service mathematics teachers' skills in understanding, method, modelling, verification, and extension dimensions of problem solving and their learning style characteristics. The data consisted of the skills pre-service teachers demonstrated in the solution process of open-ended problems. For this purpose, a graded scoring rubric was developed specific to each problem. Regarding the relationships between problem solving dimensions and the characteristics of McCarthy's learning styles, it was assumed that type 1 learners' skills were more dominant in the understanding dimension, type 2 learners' skills in the method and modelling dimensions, type 3 learners' skills in the verification dimension, and type 4 learners' skills in the extension dimension. On the basis of this assumption, problem-solving skills and learning style characteristics were associated and interpreted. The results obtained suggested that 5th year pre-service teachers were better in representing the skills pertaining to type 1 and type 2 learning styles, while 1st year pre-service teachers were better in representing the skills pertaining to type 1 learning style only. On the other hand, it was observed that a great majority of the pre-service teachers had a low level of the skills pertaining to type 3 and type 4 learning styles.