FROM ENGINEERS TO MATHEMATICS TEACHERS: ROTE TEACHING OR TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING

Nowadays, many engineers choose to change their careers and to become mathematics teachers. The aim of the presented study is to explore the career changers’ perceptions of mathematics teaching, and particularly their perceptions of the importance of teaching for understanding. For this purpose, two mathematical tasks were constructed and presented to the career changers as part of a semi-constructed interview. The distinct difference between the two tasks aimed at capturing the participants' perceptions of the importance of rote teaching compared to teaching for understanding.

This presentation includes an introduction and analysis of the two tasks accompanied by a participant’s answer. The first task is a regular curriculum assignment, which requires accurately using the formula for weighted average. This task is supposed to be solved by one (standard) way and has only one correct solution. The solution mainly requires using procedural knowledge, and does not require deep subject understanding or any creative approach.

Unlike the “regular" first task, the second task does not have any algorithmic way of solution. Procedural knowledge alone is not enough in order to solve it; however, profound conceptual knowledge is needed. Unlike the first task, the second task is open and has a variety of possible solutions and a wide range of right answers. The primary research conclusions, according to participants’ response on the two tasks, will be discussed during the presentation.