Examination of Pre-service Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Problems Posed about Algebraic Expressions and Equations

The purpose of this study is to examine pre-service elementary mathematics teachers' problems posed about algebraic expressions and equations. Data was collected from 96 pre-service elementary mathematics teachers in the spring semester of 2012- 2013 who were enrolled in a teacher education program at a public university. Problem Posing Test consists 5 open ended items which were developed by researchers was used as a data collection tool. Pre-service elementary mathematics teachers were asked to pose problems corresponding to the algebraic expressions and equations. Problems were examined and classified. Descriptive statistics were used to determine pre-service elementary mathematics teachers' problem types. Findings of the study indicated that in general problem types were classified as story and solvable problems, they used daily language for posing problems.