How do Prospective Teachers Solve Routine and Non-Routine Trigonometry Problems?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify prospective teachers' skills in transferring their trigonometry knowledge to solve problems they encounter. Test on Solving Routine Problems (TSRP) and Test on Solving Non-routine Problems (TSNRP), were used as data collection tools. As a result of the data analysis the prospective teachers correctly answered nearly all questions in the TSRP that required procedural knowledge, whereas they experienced problems in TSNRP that required their skills of transferring their trigonometry knowledge. In view of these results, it was observed that the prospective teachers were able to answer procedural questions with their trigonometry knowledge.