Mathematical thinking in differential equations among pre-service teachers

Abstract

Pre-service teachers should be equipped with mathematical thinking. Mathematical thinking is one of the most critical aims of the mathematics education has an extremely crucial role for enhancing then conceptual learning. Mathematical thinking is a process that enables students to expand the for the complexities of their ideas. This article describes mathematical thinking in differential equations among pre-service teachers. The study was carried out in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. A set of items was designed to test mathematical thinking level. The instrument was developed based on Mason's framework of mathematical thinking. Test items measure mathematical thinking namely, specializing, generalizing, conjecturing, and convincing. Descriptive statistics was applied for data analysis. The result indicated that students' mathematical thinking is in the low level mostly specializing. The implications of this research will lead to some recommendations and approaches to enhance mathematical thinking.