Conocimiento de maestros en servicio y en formación sobre resolución de problemas aritméticos

Resum

Usually, the teaching of word problem solving is characterized by a low incidence in reasoning. One of the reasons could be the type of mathematics knowledge that teachers have developed during their professional career about the resolution process itself. In the present study the differences in the orientation, coherence and explicitness of knowledge about word problem solving between 109 in-service and preservice teachers (60.55% women and 39.45% men) are analysed. Their professional experience averaged 19.22 (SD = 10.01). Through a structured interview, teachers selected a type of problem, a resolution model, and an example of interaction between two options in each case (with or without reasoning aids), depending on which they considered the most suitable for teaching word problem solving. They had to argue their answer. Main results indicated that in-service teachers showed an orientation to the options without reasoning, they were more coherent in their choices in the three tasks (problem, model, interaction) and their arguments were more explicit than pre-service teachers. As a conclusion, it would be advisable to enrich teachers´ knowledge about word problem solving.