Identifying Students' Initial Mathematical Knowledge at the Entrance to the Pre-service Primary Teacher Education

Abstract

This study seeks to identify the Initial Mathematical Knowledge (IMK) level of future primary teachers at the beginning of their initial teacher training. When constructing the instruments and analyzing the results, we consider the specification of the Fundamental Mathematical Knowledge (CMF) as the mathematical knowledge necessary for these students to successfully follow the mathematics subjects and their didactics during the degree. Based on a quantitative approach, two mathematical knowledge questionnaires were applied to 278 students entering two teacher training programs, one in Chile and the other in Spain. The students' responses to both instruments were analyzed together, from the perspective of performance in each block of content that makes up the CMF and from the perspective of the level of skill the questions required to be solved. The results show that about a third of the students have a low average performance, with the statistics block being the most relegated. In addition, it is observed that items that require mathematical reasoning result in a higher degree of overall achievement than those that only need the application of concepts. We concluded that the level of CMI is diverse in coverage and depth so that programs and teacher educators cannot assume a priori standard of knowledge in advance, which raises the need to deepen this knowledge and how this type of information can be used in initial training.

Fundamental mathematical knowledge; Diagnostic assessment; Pre-service primary teacher education; Mathematics education