Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Experience with Productive Struggle

Abstract

Mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs) need opportunities to learn best practices in teaching mathematics, e.g., productive struggle. Productive struggle happens when students work through challenging problems that are not straightforward. This paper describes mathematics PSTs’ engagement with productive struggle in a mathematics methods course. PSTs critiqued high cognitive demand tasks, planned and implemented them, and reflected on their experience focusing on productive struggle. Findings have implications for mathematics teacher preparation.

Keywords:

• Productive struggle
• pre-service mathematics teachers
• high-cognitive demand tasks