Knowledge levels and attitudes of primary mathematics teacher candidates towards new approaches in mathematics teaching

In this study, the relationships between the achievement levels, knowledge levels, attitudes, and the extent to which pre-service elementary mathematics teachers acquired contemporary teaching approaches in their faculties were examined. In addition, it was analyzed whether these variables differed according to demographic factors such as gender, university attended, type of high school graduated from, and grade level. For this purpose, while determining the study group, care was taken to select pre-service teachers from universities located in different regions. A total of 610 pre-service teachers, including 159 males and 451 females from five universities, participated in the study. The research method employed was the survey model. The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS 26 statistical software package. As data collection tools, the Pre-Service Teacher Opinion Form and the Pre-Service Teacher Test (Teaching Approaches Test) developed by Esra Umdu were used. According to the results, mathematics pre-service teachers reported that they partially knew the approaches included in the scale. Their attitudes toward the usefulness of these approaches were at the "agree" level. Their opinions regarding the extent to which they acquired these approaches in their faculties were at the "occasionally" level. The results indicated a positive but weak and significant relationship between pre-service teachers' achievement levels regarding contemporary teaching approaches and their knowledge levels as well as the extent to which they had been taught these approaches in their faculties. However, the relationship between achievement levels and attitudes was positive but weak and not significant. The gender variable produced a significant difference in favor of female participants in both achievement levels and attitudes, whereas significant differences were observed only in achievement levels with respect to the grade level and university variables. For grade level, achievement increased as the year of study rose. The type of high school graduated from did not show a significant difference in terms of either achievement or attitude scores. Based on the research findings, several recommendations were made.