(International group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 2004) Knoll, Eva; Morgan, Simon; Ernest, Paul
This paper presents the early results of an experiment involving a class of elementary
student teachers within the context of their mathematics preparation. The motivation
of the exercise centred on giving them an experience with mathematical research at
their own level and ascertaining its impact on their attitudes and beliefs. The students
spent the first month working on open-ended geometrical topics. In the second month,
working alone or in groups of up to four, they chose one or more of these topics then
worked on a problem of their own design. The students spent the class time
developing their ideas using strategies such as generating examples and nonexamples,
generalising, etc. Reference to books was not accepted as a research tool,
but the instruction team monitored student progress and was available for questions.