Number sense profile of prospective elementary school teachers in blended Mathematics learning

Welly Novitasari, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Herwin Herwin, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Supartinah Supartinah, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Putri Wulandari, University of St Andrews Scotland, United Kingdom
Budiharti Budiharti, Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract


Number sense is a skill that contributes significantly to learning mathematics. However, number sense is often positioned as a fundamental skill whose development is more focused on children. The contribution of number sense in mathematics is even more apparent at higher levels of education. Ironically, number sense seems ignored and has become a rarely studied topic in higher education. Thus, the student’s number sense ability profile seems buried with various problems. This study aims to reveal the profile of prospective elementary school teachers’ number sense abilities and the factors causing their failure in solving math problems during the implementation of blended learning. This study uses a qualitative approach with 37 prospective elementary school teachers as research subjects. The observation of the test and lecture activities is the data collection method. The results showed that the prospective elementary school teachers’ number sense ability was still relatively low. Based on the components, the order of number sense abilities is from the highest, namely: (1) knowledge and number facilities with the achievement of 14.41%; (2) knowledge and facilities for number operations with the achievement of 8.12%; and (3) knowledge and facilities of numbers and operations for computing settings with an achievement of 1.8%. The low number sense ability is caused by the habit of solving problems procedurally and the failure to solve problems due to misconceptions, not understanding concepts, inaccuracy, inability to understand questions, and difficulty representing fractions. Various factors causing the failure arose due to the limitations of implementing blended learning.


Keywords


number sense; mathematics learning; blended learning; higher education

References


Aliustaoğlu, F., Tuna, A., & Biber, A. Ç. (2018). Misconceptions of sixth grade secondary school students on fractions. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 10(5), 591–599. https://doi.org/10.26822/iejee.2018541308

Almeida, R., Bruno, A., & Perdomo-Díaz, J. (2016). Strategies of number sense in pre-service secondary Mathematics teachers. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 14(5), 959–978. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9601-6

Ben-Yehuda, M., & Sharoni, V. (2021). Number sense makes all the difference: Calculation using number sense by pupils with and without learning difficulties in Math. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 20(1), 47–67. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/JCEP-D-20-00029

Can, D., & Yetkin Özdemir, I. E. (2020). An examination of fourth-grade elementary school students’ number sense in context-based and non-context-based problems. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 18(7), 1333–1354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-019-10022-3

Courtney-Clarke, M., & Wessels, H. (2014). Number sense of final year pre-service primary school teachers. Pythagoras, 35(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.4102/pythagoras.v35i1.244

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage Publications. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523157?origin=crossref

Dagdag, J. D., Palapuz, N. A., & Calimag, N. A. (2021). Predictive ability of problem-solving efficacy sources on Mathematics achievement. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 10(4), 1185–1191. https://doi.org/10.11591/IJERE.V10I4.21416

Dennis, M. S., Knight, J., & Jerman, O. (2016). Teaching high school students with learning disabilities to use model drawing strategy to solve fraction and percentage word problems. Preventing School Failure, 60(1), 10–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2014.954514

Er, Z., & Artut, P. D. (2018). Investigation of number sense strategies used by the 8th grade students in Turkey. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 6(7), 108-113. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v6i7.3170

Gerzel-Short, L., & Hedin, L. (2022). Purposeful use of high-leverage practices to teach number sense. Intervention in School and Clinic, 57(3), 19–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/10534512211014839

Ghazali, M., Mohamed, R., & Mustafa, Z. (2021). A systematic review on the definition of children’s number sense in the primary school years. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 17(6), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/10871

Güner, P., & Gökçe, S. (2021). Monitoring the nomological network of number sense studies. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 52(4), 580–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2021.1895343

Güven, Y., & Çolak, F. G. (2019). Difficulties of early childhood education teachers’ in Mathematics activities. 12(1), 89–106. https://doi.org/10.24193/adn.12.1.6.90

Hinton, V., Stroizer, S., & Flores, M. (2015). A case study in using explicit instruction to teach young children counting skills. Investigations in Mathematics Learning, 8(2), 37–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/24727466.2015.11790350

Khairani, A. Z., & Shamsuddin, H. (2021). Application of Rasch measurement model in developing calibrated item pool for the topic of Rational Numbers. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 17(12), em2056. https://doi.org/10.29333/EJMSTE/11426

Lai, M. Y., & Wong, J. P. (2017). Revisiting decimal misconceptions from a new perspective: The significance of whole number bias in the Chinese culture. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 47(May), 96–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2017.07.006

Lee, T., Newton, M., & Glass, B. (2021). Elementary Science teachers adapt their practice during a pandemic. Journal of Interdisciplinary Teacher Leadership, 5(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.46767/kfp.2016-0034

Mädamürk, K., Kikas, E., & Palu, A. (2018). Calculation and word problem-solving skill profiles: Relationship to previous skills and interest. Educational Psychology, 38(10), 1239–1254. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2018.1495830

Malone, A. S., & Fuchs, L. S. (2017). Error patterns in ordering fractions among at-risk fourth-grade students. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50(3), 337–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219416629647

Namkung, J. M., Fuchs, L. S., & Koziol, N. (2018). Does initial learning about the meaning of fractions present similar challenges for students with and without adequate whole-number skill? Learning and Individual Differences, 61(November 2017), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.11.018

Pentang, J. T., Ibañez, E. D., Subia, G. S., Domingo, J. G., Gamit, A. M., & Pascual, L. E. (2021). Problem-solving performance and skills of prospective elementary teachers in Northern Philippines methods. Journal of Hunan University Natural Sciences, 48(1), 122–132. http://jonuns.com/index.php/journal/article/view/500

Powell, S. R., & Nelson, G. (2021). University students’ misconceptions about rational numbers: Implications for developmental mathematics and instruction of younger students. Psychology in the Schools, 58(2), 307–331. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22448

Purnomo, Y. W., Kowiyah, Alyani, F., & Assiti, S. S. (2014). Assessing number sense performance of Indonesian elementary school students. International Education Studies, 7(8), 74–84. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v7n8p74

Reys, R., Lindquist, M. M., Lambdin, D. V., & Smith, N. L. (2009). Helping children learn Mathematics (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.5951/AT.10.4.0179

Roell, M., Viarouge, A., Houdé, O., & Borst, G. (2017). Inhibitory control and decimal number comparison in school-aged children. PLoS ONE, 12(11), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188276

Senol, A., Dundar, S., & Gunduz, N. (2015). Analysis of the relationship between estimation skills based on calculation and number sense of prospective classroom teachers. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 197(July), 1782–1788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.236

Voronin, I. A., Ovcharova, O. N., Bezrukova, E. M., & Kovas, Y. (2018). Cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of the unified state exam performance of students from schools with regular and advanced mathematical curricula. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 11(4), 177–199. https://doi.org/10.11621/pir.2018.0412

Whitacre, I. (2018). Prospective elementary teachers learning to reason flexibly with sums and differences: Number sense development viewed through the lens of collective activity. Cognition and Instruction, 36(1), 56–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2017.1394303

Yaman, H. (2015). The mathematics education I and II courses’ effect on teacher candidates’ development of number sense. Kuram ve Uygulamada Egitim Bilimleri, 15(4), 1119–1135. https://doi.org/10.12738/estp.2015.4.2322

Yang, D. C., & Sianturi, I. A. J. (2019). Assessing students’ conceptual understanding using an online three-tier diagnostic test. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35(5), 678–689. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12368

Yang, D. C., & Sianturi, I. A. J. (2021). Sixth grade students’ performance, misconception, and confidence on a three-tier number sense test. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 19(2), 355–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10051-3

Yang, D. C., & Wu, W. R. (2010). The study of number sense: Realistic activities integrated into third-grade math classes in Taiwan. Journal of Educational Research, 103(6), 379–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220670903383010

Zhou, M., & Chua, B. L. (2016). Using blended learning design to enhance learning experience in teacher education. International Journal on E-Learning, 15(1), 121–140. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/41984/




DOI: https://doi.org/10.21831/reid.v10i1.51394

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.




Find REID (Research and Evaluation in Education) on:

  

ISSN 2460-6995 (Online)

View REiD Visitor Statistics