Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2015

Theses and Dissertations

Science and Mathematics Education

Generalization

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Education

Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge Of Generalization And Justification On Geometric-Numerical Patterning Tasks, James Vincent Kirwan Apr 2015

Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge Of Generalization And Justification On Geometric-Numerical Patterning Tasks, James Vincent Kirwan

Theses and Dissertations

Generalization is essential to mathematical thinking (Kaput, 1999), and justification is its inseparable twin (Lannin, 2005). If students will be expected to generalize and justify, then it is important to develop an understanding of teachers' thinking about these concepts. This study examined secondary preservice teachers understanding of generalization, justification, and the interaction between these concepts.

Data were collected from three quadratic geometric-numerical patterning tasks administered during a single interview. Data reduction (Miles & Huberman, 1994) and constant comparative (Glaser & Straus, 1967) methodology was used to analyze written transcripts of the interviews.

The results of this analysis indicated that participants …