Student Teachers’ Conceptions of Mathematical Proof

ion Step two is for each student teacher, individually, to produce their own representation of their conception of mathematical proof using any or all of the above key terms (or others that they might choose), arranging them on a blank piece of paper from their own perspective, and joining Mathematics Education Review, Volume 9, May 1997 pp21-32 27 key terms in what they consider a meaningful way for them, using lines and words indicating relationships between the key terms they use. Below are examples from three student teachers, all of whom have degrees in mathematics but with varying classifications. The maps were drawn during week 16 of a 36 week long course. These particular examples were selected to illustrate the range of responses from the trainee teachers to the task of drawing up a concept map and to test the method of analysis. Further analysis of data from a larger sample of trainee teachers is needed before any firm conclusions could be drawn either about the quality of the subject knowledge of trainee mathematics teachers or of the validity and reliability of the concept map method. Nevertheless, the data given below does raise some interesting questions. Figure 2 is of a student teacher A, whose degree classification is a pass.