Exploring Instruments for Assessing Initial Mathematical Knowledge in Primary Teacher Education
Keywords:
fundamental mathematical knowledge, mathematics teacher education, assessment instruments validation, prospective primary teacherAbstract
Knowing the mathematical knowledge of students entering primary teacher education is key to guiding admission or diagnoses to inform teacher education programs. To understand how students' initial mathematical knowledge is organised, the study draws on the idea of Fundamental Mathematical Knowledge, which had been defined as the mathematical knowledge necessary for students to be able to successfully follow subjects about mathematics and teaching during their teacher education. This study examined two questionnaires that were designed in Catalonia and Chile to gauge the disparity between students' mathematical knowledge at the beginning of their teacher education. and a specification of Fundamental Mathematical Knowledge defined around curricular content blocks. The scores obtained in both questionnaires by two groups of students—one in Barcelona and another in Santiago de Chile—constituted the data. The quantitative analysis of the data enabled the psychometrically validation of the instruments for the measurement of students' initial mathematical knowledge and revealed that the structure of this knowledge was unidimensional and behaved as a single latent construct. From the study is was concluded that teacher education programs should be aimed at progressing towards the development of a deeper understanding of elementary mathematics and its conceptual connections.
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