Original Research

Exploring preservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for teaching analytical geometry in multilingual classrooms

Sibongile Zulu, Deonarain Brijlall
Pythagoras | Vol 45, No 1 | a802 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/pythagoras.v45i1.802 | © 2024 Sibongile Zulu, Deonarain Brijlall | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 23 January 2024 | Published: 11 October 2024

About the author(s)

Sibongile Zulu, School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Design, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
Deonarain Brijlall, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

Abstract

The narrative permeating higher education institutions globally is the intention to advance the quality of preservice mathematics teachers to gain better performance than mathematics school learners. In this article we report on a qualitative case study which explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of preservice teachers (PST) (n = 20) at a South African university of technology. These preservice teachers were provided with activity sheets with past examination questions in analytical geometry. Their written responses were analysed, and verification interviews were conducted. This was followed by an analysis of the preservice teachers’ lesson plans for teaching the topic to Grade 11 learners. The domains and subdomains of the Shulman’s PCK derived Mathematics Teacher’s Specialised Knowledge (MTSK) model were used as the theoretical framework. The study established that the PSTs had limited content knowledge, and knowledge for teaching analytical geometry at Grade 11 as their responses to the activities confirmed that they mostly had procedural understanding. The study was conducted in a context with multilingual PSTs who are training in multilingual classrooms.

Contribution: The study will highlight the misconceptions and existing gaps in the PSTs’ knowledge for teaching analytical geometry in multilingual classrooms.


Keywords

content knowledge; pedagogical knowledge; preservice teachers; multilingual classrooms; analytical geometry.

Sustainable Development Goal

Goal 4: Quality education

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