Investigating Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge through Microteaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how pre-service mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge was reflected in their microteaching. Twenty preservice secondary mathematics teachers participated in the study. The participants formed groups of two, three or four people of their choice, resulting in six groups in total. Each group designed and conducted a microteaching on a topic of their choice. The videotapes of the groups’ microteaching and their lesson plans constituted the data set for the study. We analyzed the data per the components of the pedagogical content knowledge framework outlined by various researchers. We found that the preservice mathematics teachers in general were knowledgeable about different instructional strategies and the curriculum about the topic of their microteaching, but their knowledge of learners was relatively poor. Implications for teacher education are discussed.