Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Problem-Solving Ability and Their Curricular Noticing Ability Through Pedagogical Sequencing Activities

The aim of this study was to examine how pre-service teachers performed in tasks related to three specific aspects of curricular noticing. The participants completed a two-part written task in which they solved three pattern generalization problems and sequenced them for teaching purposes. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the participants’ responses. The results indicate that only a small percentage of pre-service teachers correctly solved all three problems and proposed the same instructional sequence as the researchers. Participants used various criteria to sequence the problems, including problem difficulty and their own understanding of the problem-solving process. It was also found that the pre-service teachers’ mathematical knowledge played a pivotal role in all three dimensions of curricular noticing. The findings of the research emphasize the importance of developing pre-service teachers’ curricular noticing abilities and the need to address this skill in teacher preparation programs.