Assessing A Hierarchy of Pre-Service Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Algebraic Thinking

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess a hierarchy of Malaysian pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ algebraic thinking in using equation. The content domains incorporated in this framework were linear pattern (pictorial), direct variation, concept of function, arithmetic sequence and inverse variation. The SOLO model was used for coding the pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ responses and the Rasch model (rating scale analysis) was used to clarify the construction of the hierarchy. The participants of this study consisted of 120 pre-service secondary mathematics teachers who were first year and second year students in a local university. They were given a pencil-and-paper test. The test comprised ten superitems. Results of the study revealed that seven different levels of algebraic thinking were identified, namely prestructural, unistructural, multistructural, lower relational, relational, upper relational and extended abstract. Results of the study also indicated that 57.5% of the pre-service secondary mathematics teachers performed at least at the lower relational level (algebraic thinking level), 42.5% of them performed at the multistructural level and below (pre-algebraic thinking level). The results provided evidence of the significance of the SOLO model in assessing algebraic thinking amongst the pre-service secondary mathematics teacher.