Decision-making Skills of Prospective Mathematics Teachers in Designing Numeracy Tasks: A Study of Medium Level Pedagogical Content Knowledge.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Decision-making Skills of Prospective Mathematics Teachers in Designing Numeracy Tasks: A Study of Medium Level Pedagogical Content Knowledge.
Authors:	Lestari, Nurcholif Diah Sri¹ nurcholif.fkip@unej.ac.Id, Suwarno², Pambudi, Didik Sugeng¹, Kurniati, Dian¹, Murtafiah, Wasilatul³, Sunardi¹
Source:	Mathematics Teacher Education & Development. 2026, Vol. 28 Issue 1, p1-17. 17p.
Subject Terms:	Decision making, Pedagogical content knowledge, Active learning, Mathematical ability, Professional education, Mathematics education, Mathematics teachers, Teacher education
Abstract:	Designing effective, contextual, and meaningful numeracy tasks requires prospective teachers to integrate their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with robust decision-making skills. This study aimed to explore the decision-making skills of three prospective mathematics teachers with medium-level PCK. They were purposively selected from thirty-one participants based on an initial numeracy task assessment. The analysis intentionally focused on those with medium-level PCK, as it represents a critical transitional level. After completing the task design, in-depth interviews were conducted, and data validity was ensured through member checking. The findings indicate that the participants' decision-making processes contained notable gaps in several parts of task design. The prospective teachers tended to overlook critical task details, focusing mainly on numeracy aspects while neglecting key components of PCK. Their task designs were generally limited to application-level word problems adapted from textbooks by merely altering the context and lacked opportunities for reasoning and creative thinking. They also determined task difficulty based on personal assumptions rather than students' learning needs. These findings underscore the importance of enhancing teacher education curricula by incorporating learning models that foster PCK-based decision-making skills, thereby supporting the holistic professional development of prospective mathematics teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	Designing effective, contextual, and meaningful numeracy tasks requires prospective teachers to integrate their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) with robust decision-making skills. This study aimed to explore the decision-making skills of three prospective mathematics teachers with medium-level PCK. They were purposively selected from thirty-one participants based on an initial numeracy task assessment. The analysis intentionally focused on those with medium-level PCK, as it represents a critical transitional level. After completing the task design, in-depth interviews were conducted, and data validity was ensured through member checking. The findings indicate that the participants' decision-making processes contained notable gaps in several parts of task design. The prospective teachers tended to overlook critical task details, focusing mainly on numeracy aspects while neglecting key components of PCK. Their task designs were generally limited to application-level word problems adapted from textbooks by merely altering the context and lacked opportunities for reasoning and creative thinking. They also determined task difficulty based on personal assumptions rather than students' learning needs. These findings underscore the importance of enhancing teacher education curricula by incorporating learning models that foster PCK-based decision-making skills, thereby supporting the holistic professional development of prospective mathematics teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	14423901