Primary School Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge and Instructional Explanations of Four Operations

Abstract

This study, which aims to determine the level of primary school teachers' instructional knowledge of the four basic operations with natural numbers and to examine their instructional explanations, was conducted according to the sequential explanatory design, one of the mixed research methods. The mathematics teaching knowledge of primary school teachers was examined within the framework of content knowledge, student and content knowledge, instructional and content knowledge, and curricular knowledge components. In the quantitative part of the study, primary school teachers were administered a test on four operations with natural numbers, and in the qualitative part, clinical interviews were conducted with the identified teachers. The study was conducted with 70 primary school teachers with professional experience ranging from 1 to 30 years. The data were collected through an information form that included demographic information of the participants, a content knowledge test on teaching four operations with natural numbers, and clinical interviews. Data from the test were analyzed using the scoring rubric developed by the researchers. Data from the clinical interviews were subjected to descriptive content analysis. As a result of the research, primary school teachers showed the lowest performance in the instructional and content knowledge component and the most successful performance in the curriculum knowledge component. As a result of the findings, the deficiencies of primary school teachers regarding their pedagogical content and subject matter knowledge were identified and it was suggested that in order to overcome these deficiencies, learning environments should be provided for teachers to update and improve their theoretical and content teaching knowledge within the profession in cooperation with universities.