Investigating development of prospective primary teachers' mathematical pedagogical content knowledge: Lesson study

Related literature emphasizes that teachers should have deep knowledge for effective teaching rather than just content knowledge. In comparison with content knowledge mathematical pedagogical content knowledge is more elaborate and deeper type of knowledge. It consists of knowing how students acquire instructed knowledge, arranging and managing teaching-learning process, utilizing effective representations, providing proper instructional explanations, and selecting and organizing problems. From this perspective, investigating professional development of teachers has recently become an important topic of inquiry in educational research. In this study, lesson study approach was applied during teaching practice courses and whether the lesson study supports knowledge of the mathematics teaching development process of prospective primary teachers was investigated.The sample of the study consisted of 12 prospective primary teachers, 6 in experimental and 6 in control group. The researcher as teacher of the course carried out lesson study with 6 prospective primary teachers in the experimental group during Teaching Practice Course-Irun in a real school environment. During Teaching Practice Course-I, the researcher as teacher of the course worked with 12 prospective primary teachers during Teaching Practice Course-II without any intervention. Data collection tools consisted of audio-visual records and transcripts, field notes, lesson plans, diary written by the prospective teachers after lessons, and semi-structured questionnaires filled out by the prospective teachers following each lesson study cycle.The results of the study show that the experimental group participated in lesson studywas found better than the control group in the cases of taking account of student knowledge, planning lessons appropriate objectives, arranging activities in order, deciding the number of activities and keeping students mentally active. The instructional explanations of prospective teachers in both groups were negatively affected by theirinadequate proficiency of using Turkish and mathematical language within their teaching.Nevertheless, the prospective primary teachers in the experimental group were seasonable in making instructional explanations during their teaching practice. In conclusion, the lesson study has been used in supporting pre-service teachers by means of their pedagogical content knowledge. In the study it was evident that lesson study is useful to bring together theory and practice, as they are used in the cycle of planning, applying and reflection. In this sense, pre-service teachers should be supported to make detailed lesson plans by paying attention to the sub-parts of pedagogical content knowledge, as well as to the lesson-planning process, until teacher candidates gain more experience.Key Words: Mathematical Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Lesson Study, Teacher Education