Teachers’ Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching Early Algebra: A Systematic Review from the MKT Perspective
Open accessAbstract
The mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) model emerged from the advances proposed by Shulman in 1986 and 1987 as part of the teacher’s professional knowledge model, and refers to the mathematical knowledge that the teacher employs to carry out the instruction process in the classroom. MKT has become an international benchmark for research into mathematics education and boasts a great scope and impact to date. The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the way in which the MKT of early algebra teachers has been conceptualized and empirically studied in the scientific literature from 2010 to 2021. A systematic search in the Web of Science and Scopus databases led to a review of 17 papers. The results show great advances in the conceptualization of mathematical knowledge for teaching early algebra, focusing mainly on primary education teachers and on specialized knowledge of the content. In turn, there is a predominance of studies that address functional thinking as a content area. We conclude that more empirical studies are needed that address the mathematical knowledge that childhood and primary education teachers have of early algebra.
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MKT has been minimally conceptualized in secondary teacher preparation, particularly in lesson planning.
“Because MKT has been minimally conceptualized in secondary teacher preparation, particularly in lesson planning (Pincheira & Alsina, 2021)”
From Preservice teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching: Focus on lesson planning and reflection (2024) · cites this paper as Pincheira & Alsina, 2021
Cites
Effects of Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching on Student Achievement
Hill, H. C., Rowan, B., & Ball, D. L. (2005) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312042002371 · Cited by 2,812 · see citing works
Blanton, M., Stephens, A., Knuth, E., Gardiner, A. M., Isler, I., & Kim, J.-S. (2015) · Journal for Research in Mathematics Education · doi:10.5951/jresematheduc.46.1.0039 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Functional Thinking as a Route Into Algebra in the Elementary Grades
Blanton, M. L., & Kaput, J. J. (2011) · Advances in Mathematics Education · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-17735-4_2 · Cited by 177 · cited 1× · see citing works
“On the other hand, functional thinking promotes the algebraic activity linked to the process of generalization and of representing relationships between quantities [49].”
BackgroundBlanton, M., Isler-Baykal, I., Stroud, R., Stephens, A., Knuth, E., & Gardiner, A. M. (2019) · Educational Studies in Mathematics · doi:10.1007/s10649-019-09894-7 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Third Grade Students’ Use of Relational Thinking
Molina, M., & Castro, E. (2021) · Mathematics · doi:10.3390/math9020187 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
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Preservice teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching: Focus on lesson planning and reflection
Sapkota, B., & Hayes, A. H. (2024) · School Science and Mathematics · doi:10.1111/ssm.12644 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pincheira, N., & Alsina, Á.
- Affiliations
- Universitat de Girona (ES)
- Department of Subject-Specific Didactics, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Girona, 17004 Girona, Spain
- Corresponding author
- Pincheira, Nataly
- Venue
- Mathematics
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-10-15
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 2590
- ISSN
- 2227-7390 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3206864816
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 1.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Mathematics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Universitat de Girona Digital Repository (Universitat de Girona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Universitat de Girona
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › Mathematics Education and Programs
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Keywords
- mathematical knowledge for teaching, early algebra, teacher knowledge, primary school teachers, functional thinking, teacher professional knowledge, content knowledge
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