MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING PROOF: COMPARING SECONDARY TEACHERS, PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AND UNDERGRADUATE STEM MAJORS.

It has been suggested that integrating reasoning and proof in mathematics teaching requires a special type of teacher knowledge – Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Proof (MKT-P). Yet, several important questions about the nature of MKT-P remain open, specifically, whether MKTP is a type of knowledge specific to teachers, and whether MKT-P can be improved through intervention. We explored these questions by comparing performance on an MKT-P questionnaire of in-service secondary mathematics teachers, undergraduate STEM majors, and pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. The latter group completed the questionnaire twice- before and after participating in a capstone course, Mathematical Reasoning and Proving for Secondary Teachers. Our data suggest that MKT-P is indeed a special kind of knowledge specific to teachers and it can be improved through interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]