Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education · Volume 1
Daniela Assmus, Nina Bohlmann, Kerstin Bräuning, Caren Feskorn, Torsten Fritzlar, Heike Hahn, Simone Reinhold, Denise Resche
University of Halle-Wittenberg
⬇ Download PDFVisual representations are essential for teaching fundamental properties of multiplication such as commutativity. However, little is known about how beginning preservice teachers (PSTs) assess such representations. This study investigates how first-year PSTs at three German universities (N = 863) evaluate visual representations of the commutative law of multiplication and which criteria underlie their judgments. Results indicate that many students relied primarily on surface-related features (e.g., clarity or familiarity) rather than content-related aspects for evaluation. Even conceptually problematic representations were often rated positively. The findings point to a general surface orientation of some PSTs and highlight the need for teacher education to promote content-focused and comparative analyses of representations.
preservice teachersmultiplicationrepresentationsevaluation