PROSPECTIVE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ COGNITIVE COMPETENCIES ON REALISTIC MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is based on the idea that mathematics is a human activity; and its main principle is to ensure the transition from informal knowledge to formal knowledge through contextual problems. This study aims at revealing how RME is configured in the minds of prospective mathematics teachers and their cognitive competency in that sense. For that purpose, at the end of the process, in which the approaches used in mathematical education including RME are examined and interpreted, 32 prospective teachers were asked various open-ended questions. Moreover, they were expected to pose contextual problems that could be used in RME. After analysing the obtained data via qualitative research techniques, it is seen that the majority of the prospective teachers possesses theoretical knowledge on RME. However, it is also observed that their ability to present its differences and similarities with other approaches and to pose contextual problems suitable to RME has been decreased.