Prospective elementary mathematics teachers' views on the use of mathematics in different occupational groups

Purpose: In this study, it was aimed to take the preliminary opinions of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers about the use of mathematics in different occupational groups, then to take their final opinions after obtaining information from people working in these occupations and thus to examine the changes in their opinions. Method: In this research, the case study design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. The study group consisted of students studying in the 3rd grade of Eskişehir Osmangazi University Faculty of Education Primary Mathematics Teaching undergraduate program in the spring semester of the 2023-2024 academic year and taking the 'Association in Mathematics Teaching' course. The study group included 30 teacher candidates, 6 of whom were male and 24 of whom were female. The opinions of candidates about the use of mathematics in these professional groups were examined before and after their interviews with people from different professional groups, and the data collection process took a total of eight weeks. The pre- and post-application interview forms (preliminary and final interview forms) to collect candidates' opinions, a task form for candidates' interview with professionals, and a presentation task form to be held by the candidates in the classroom after their interviews with people of different professions were used as data collection tools. In the preliminary interview form, teacher candidates' opinions about skills, skills in mathematics teaching, association skills in mathematics teaching and the use of mathematics in different professions; in the final interview form, the candidates' opinions on the use of mathematics in different professions and the application process were taken. In the task form regarding interviews with people of different professions, the candidates were asked to choose one of nine different professional groups and hold an interview with at least one person from this professional group for a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of 15 minutes, and to get their opinions with concrete examples of how they use mathematics in their profession. In the presentation task form, teacher candidates were asked to prepare a presentation lasting no more than 20 minutes about the information they acquired on the use of mathematics in the relevant professional group, after meeting with person(s) from different professional groups, and share it in the classroom environment. Content analysis technique was used to analyze the data obtained from the interview and task forms. Results: When the opinions of teacher candidates in the preliminary interview form were examined, it was seen that, according to the candidates, faculties related to the field of health were among the faculties in which the mathematics net score was most effective in gaining success in the university exam. In addition, according to prospective teachers, it has been determined that the professions in which mathematics is used most in the field after graduation are engineering faculty professions, and as a profession, the profession in which mathematics is used most in the field is engineering. When the opinions of teacher candidates about the use of mathematics in different professional groups are examined, it is seen that nearly half of the candidates are not knowledgeable about the use of mathematics in the police, military, lawyer and computer programming professions, while the majority of the candidates are partially knowledgeable about the use of mathematics in other professional groups. When the opinions of teacher candidates in the final interview form were examined, it was seen that the majority of the candidates were knowledgeable about the use of mathematics in all nine different professional groups. When we look at the opinions of the teacher candidates regarding the application process, it was determined that half of the candidates did not have any negative opinions about the application process, all of them expressed positive opinions, and all of the candidates thought of including information about the use of mathematics in different professional groups in their lessons when they became teachers. When the opinions of the pre-service teachers about the implementation process were examined, it was determined that all of the pre-service teachers expressed positive opinions about the implementation process and they thought that they would include information about the use of mathematics in different professional groups in their courses when they became teachers. Conclusion and Suggestions: A significant number of the teacher candidates were not knowledgeable about the use of mathematics in different professional groups, a significant number of the candidates who self-evaluated as "partially knowledgeable" or "I am knowledgeable" made superficial explanations with a limited level of knowledge, and after the application, they found out that mathematics could be used in different professional groups. It was determined that the number of candidates who did not have knowledge about the subject was very low, and the majority of the candidates who stated that they were knowledgeable were able to make different and broader explanations on the subject than before the application. This result shows that the majority of candidates increased their knowledge about the use of mathematics in different professional groups after the application process. In addition, it was concluded that the candidates developed a positive opinion that they consider including the information they acquired about the use of mathematics in different professional groups in their own lessons when they become teachers in the future. In order to advance the research, questions about the use of mathematics in other professional groups can be asked to teacher candidates and the scope of the study can be expanded. In addition, it can be more effective for teacher candidates to learn by seeing and listening to people of different professions in their workplaces within the context of out-of-school learning environments, and therefore research can be carried out in this direction. Keywords: Use of Mathematics in Different Professional Groups, Association Skills, Mathematics Teacher Candidates, Mathematics Education.