Prospective Elementary and Middle School Teachers' Knowledge of Linear Functions: A Quantitative Approach

Built upon existing studies, this study is designed to take a closer look at prospective teachers’ mathematics knowledge with a proposed knowledge structure, i.e., four constructs in representation flexibility and one construct of procedural skills. Statistical analyses of data supported the proposed knowledge structure. The results show that prospective teachers perform better on procedural skills than representation flexibility. A careful examination of their performance on various constructs of representation flexibility reveals further details on prospective teachers’ knowledge strength and weakness. Across programs, middle prospective teachers performed better than elementary prospective teachers on almost all constructs of the test.