A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
What do prospective mathematics teachers mean by “definitions can be proved”?
Authors: Merve Dilberoğlu, Çiğdem Haser, Erdinç Çakıroğlu
Editors: U. T. Jankvist, M. van den Heuvel-Panhuizen & M. Veldhuis
Conference name: Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education
Publication year: 2019
Book title : Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education
First page : 181
Last page: 188
ISBN: 978-90-73346-75-8
Web address : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02398094v1(external)
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/44664829(external)
The research reported here is part of an ongoing study in which
prospective middle school mathematics teachers’ conceptions of
definition are investigated through their responses to semi-structured
interview questions about defining quadrilaterals. Here we present
findings from their responses to a subset of the interview questions,
with the purpose of understanding what they mean by the expression
“definitions can be proved”- an expression commonly referenced, and
considered as erroneous in the research literature. Analysis of the
responses, through using thematic coding and Toulmin’s (1958) scheme,
revealed that participants attributed two different meanings to the
phrase: (1) proving the claim that a written definition accurately
designates an intended concept and (2) proving the concept being defined
(erroneous). Based on our findings, we point to a reconsideration of
the phenomenon by the research community.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
