The noticing skill of children’s algebraic thinking: a study in initial teacher education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48489/quadrante.27091Keywords:
noticing, algebraic thinking, initial teacher education, teacher education experimentAbstract
The noticing skill is an important aspect of the teacher’s practice; thus, it is crucial that teacher education promotes opportunities for teachers and preservice teachers to develop it. In particular, it is essential that (preservice) teachers develop the ability to notice children’s thinking, in specific mathematical content areas, such as algebraic thinking. The present article aims to understand the development of two preservice teachers’ ability to notice (to describe and to interpret) children’s algebraic thinking, through a teacher education experiment. The study follows a qualitative methodology and the methods of data collection were participant observation of the course’s classes, with audio and video recordings, and the collection of the participants’ written productions. The results show that at multiple times the preservice teachers attend to important aspects that allow them to describe and interpret children’s algebraic thinking. Although, in general, the preservice teachers’ ability of noticing has evolved positively throughout the experiment, some difficulties in the interpretative dimension remained, particularly in preservice teachers’ written productions. These results allow us to discuss some central elements of the teacher education experiment.
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