The Relationship among Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptual Knowledge, Opinions Regarding Proof and Proof Skills

The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship among preservice
mathematics teachers’ conceptual knowledge, opinions
regarding proof and proof skills in terms of the definition of the
convergence of a sequence. The participants of the research are
composed of six pre-service mathematics teachers who are thirdyear
students at the department of elementary mathematics teaching
in a state university located in Turkey. The data of the research
were collected via semi-structured interviews. According to the
findings of the research, it was found that the majority of the preservice
teachers who participated in the study did not have a
sufficient level of conceptual knowledge on the definition of
convergence of sequence; that their opinions on proof were
negative; and that their level of success in proving the theorem,
which they had proven before, was considerably low. Furthermore,
it was found in the research that there was a strong relationship
among pre-service teachers’ conceptual knowledge, opinions
regarding proof and proof skills, and the academic success achieved
in the related course did not reflect on their proof skills.