The problem posing capacities of pre-service post-primary mathematics teachers: insights from an Irish university

Resumo

In Ireland and internationally, problem-solving is central to post-primary mathematics curricula. Enacting problem-solving in the classroom is challenging: it requires teachers to select or create problems appropriate to their students and the intended (mathematical thinking) learning outcomes. Despite the centrality of problem-solving in curricula in Ireland, post-primary students score higher in procedural tasks than problem-solving in the international assessments. Coinciding with this, in Ireland there is a reliance on textbooks with many tasks requiring low levels of cognitive demands. Combining these findings, there is an onus on teachers to be able to pose mathematical problems to expose students to problem-solving opportunities. This study investigates the problem posing capacities of two cohorts of pre-service post-primary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) in an Irish university. The participants were undertaking a module focused on mathematical problem-solving, with a focus on its teaching. PSMTs undertook activities in which they constructed new problems, constructed extension tasks to problems they had worked on themselves, and reformulated other mathematical tasks as problems. Each task generated by the PSMTs was classified against meeting the criteria of being a mathematical problem. Those which did not (non-problem tasks) were categorised using an inductive approach. Findings show that the pre-service teachers found it challenging to pose problems with the majority of tasks classified as unsolvable or procedural. The analysis revealed gaps in the PSMTs’ mathematical content knowledge and their capacity for writing mathematics. The findings suggest that PSMTs’ capacities in posing mathematical problems needs to be developed to enhance learners’ experiences of problem-solving in post-primary classrooms.

Dados da obra

Tipo

Artigo

Periódico

Frontiers in Education, v. 11

Editora

Frontiers Media S.A.

Ano

2026 (2026-10)

Idioma

en

Palavras-chave

mathematical problem posing; mathematics education; pre-service teacher education; problem solving; teacher education

Temas

Avaliação, Formação de Professores de Matemática, Resolução de Problemas

DOI

10.3389/feduc.2026.1851481

ISSN

2504-284X

Acesso

Acesso aberto

Fontes

DOAJ — Directory of Open Access Journals

Na Biblioteca desde

01/11/2026 · verificada em 01/11/2026