An Analysis of Problems Posed by Pre-service Primary School Teachers on Fraction Division

This study aims to examine the problem-posing skills of pre-service primary school teachers regarding fraction division. Conducted within a basic qualitative research design, the study analysed data collected from 101 pre-service teachers enrolled in a higher education institution. The findings indicate that although the participants were willing to pose problems, a significant portion of the problems they generated lacked contextual stories, did not fully reflect mathematical expressions, and were not based on valid question stems. In addition, it was determined that the participants mostly focused on the measurement meaning of division and did not adequately employ other semantic types. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers exhibited conceptual shortcomings in their problem-posing processes, and from the researcher’s perspective, this suggests a need for further development of their pedagogical content knowledge. The study suggests that problem-posing skills should be addressed in a more holistic manner, both in terms of content and context, within teacher education programs.