In this study, we investigated prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ development of a meaning for the Cartesian form of complex numbers by examining the roots of quadratic equations through quantitative reasoning. Data included transcripts of the two sessions of classroom teaching experiments prospective teachers participated in, written artifacts from these teaching sessions, and their answers to pre-and-post written assessment questions. Results point toward prospective teachers’ improved meanings regarding the definition of complex numbers and the algebraic and geometrical meanings of the Cartesian form of complex numbers. Implications for mathematics teacher education include providing specific tasks and strategies for strengthening the knowledge of prospective and in-service teachers.
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Gülseren Karagöz Akar, Merve Saraç, and Mervenur Belin
Katherine Ariemma Marin and Natasha E. Gerstenschlager
Growing Problem Solvers provides four original, related, classroom-ready mathematical tasks, one for each grade band. Together, these tasks illustrate the trajectory of learners’ growth as problem solvers across their years of school mathematics.
