Investigating the noticing skills about algebraic thinking of prospecti̇ve mathematics teachers

This study aims to examine prospective middle school mathematics teachers' noticing skills related to algebraic thinking. The study is a qualitative case study. The participants of the study consisted of 5 prospective teachers studying in the fourth grade of elementary mathematics teaching department of a state university located in the northeast of Turkey. The data collection tool consists of 10 scenarios including 24 problem solutions based on the components of algebraic thinking. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. The data of the study were analyzed according to the attending, interpretation and responding phases of the noticing skill. In the findings of the study, it was determined that the prospective teachers showed robust evidence at the highest rate in each phase of the noticing skill related to students' algebraic thinking. It was observed that robust evidence was mostly presented in the attending phase, limited evidence was mostly presented in the interpretation phase, and lack of evidence was mostly presented in the responding phase. It was found that the correct and incorrect solutions presented in the scenarios did not cause a significant difference in the attending and interpretation of the prospective teachers' noticing skill; however, they caused a significant difference in responding phase. In the responding phase, it was found that the prospective teachers provided more robust evidence for incorrect solutions and more lack of evidence for correct solutions.