Teachers' reasoning in different topics of school mathematics

Abstract

Nowadays is sometimes called the post-factual era, when the distinction between truth and false is being blurred. The need to verify information, to think critically about it and to argue correctly is therefore greater than ever. One of the aims of mathematics is to develop these skills. In an international survey, we investigated which areas of mathematics teachers include reasoning and proving tasks the most and the least in. We were also interested in what the concepts of reasoning and proof mean to them in mathematics teaching. A questionnaire was developed and used in the involved countries which were Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Norway and Turkey. The teachers in our sample use reasoning and proving tasks mainly in geometry or algebra as expected while the least in the area of data and function. In accordance with literature there are many misconceptions in teachers´ perception of a role or nature of reasoning and proving in school mathematics. For instance there was a common opinion among the teachers that activities based around reasoning and proving are only for gifted students.