%T Prospective Secondary Teacher’
Beliefs About Mathematical Problem
Solving
%P 154-163
%A W. C. Mkomange
%A Akintunde M. Ajagbe
%L eprints4980
%X The main purpose of this study was to explore prospective
teachers’ beliefs on mathematical problem solving. This research
was a survey study that uses a questionnaire to collect data from
prospective secondary teachers at the Faculty of Education. The data
was analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 16.0. Findings from this study reveals the following; that
majority of prospective mathematics teachers held positive beliefs on
the importance of understanding mathematics problems, problems
with multiple ways of solution, the kind of mathematics instruction
that are emphasized by the principles of new mathematics
curriculum. Considering the aforementioned findings from analysis
of questionnaires the study concludes that; those prospective
mathematics teachers’ beliefs about mathematical problem solving
have strong connection to their study level and prospective teachers
have both traditional and contemporary views about mathematical
problem solving. In view of the study findings and conclusions, the
researcher advice educational policy makers to ensure that more
researches on teacher beliefs are conducted and an ongoing
mathematical problem solving beliefs assessment should be a major
component at Teacher Training Institutes. Teacher educators should
raise student teachers’ awareness about mathematical problem
solving once they join programs. A revision of teachers’
mathematics pedagogical courses and content courses should be a
continuous process at Universities of Education.
%K Beliefs, Prospective Teachers, Mathematical Problem
solving, Secondary Students, Malaysia.
%N 2
%D 2012
%V 2
%J IRACST- International Journal of Research in Management & Technology (IJRMT)