Pre-service teachers' mathematical reasoning

The focus of this study is the mathematical reasoning of pre-service teachers. One class of pre-service teachers preparing to teach from grade 5 to 10 was organized in small groups where they worked on certain mathematical exercises. While working on these exercises the students were video and audio recorded. The dialogues of each group constitute the unit of analysis. The research framework used in this study distinguishes between imitative and creative reasoning. This distinction is based on the idea that rote learning is imitative, while the opposite kind of reasoning is creative. However, this study reveals some of the variety of the students' mathematical reasoning and indicates that if their reasoning is not imitative it is perhaps not creative either.