PEMAHAMAN GURU MATEMATIK SEKOLAH RENDAH TENTANG PEMBAHAGIAN NOMBOR BULAT

Abstract

Research has revealed that many primary school mathematics teachers have much difficulty in teaching division of whole numbers. The purpose of this study was to identify selected primary school mathematics teachers' understanding of the division of whole numbers. This qualitative case study involved 4 mathematics teachers in primary schools through purposive sampling. Data collection using clinical interviews showed the teachers understanding and in-depth justification for each activity. The findings reveal that the primary mathematics school teachers have four general patterns of thought in division of whole numbers, namely measurement, partitioning, repeated substraction, and inverse of multiplication. The teachers were observed to use the long division algorithm in some situations. It is suggested that more remains to be learnt about the nature of teachers’ understanding of the division of whole numbers and how general patterns of thought in the division of whole numbers are formed and modified. Also, in order to provide appropriate guidance, mathematics lecturers in universities need to have some knowledge about preservice teachers’ general patterns of thought in division of whole numbers, no matter how simplistic they seem.