Promoting Writing in Mathematics - Prospective Teachers’ Experiences and Perspectives on the Process of Writing When Doing Mathematics as Problem Solving

Oct 15, 2026

Writing in mathematics is widely discussed, yet it remains marginal in secondary and tertiary instruction. To enable teachers to use writing effectively, they must experience writing mathematics during teacher education. A problem-solving seminar offered preservice teachers that experience, documenting how it shaped their problem-solving processes and classroom attitudes. Four participants were selected by their beliefs about mathematics and showed difficulties in drafting explanations; positive views aligned with using writing for metacognitive support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Theoretical considerations about writing with respect to problem solving, metacognition and beliefs

Writing in mathematics

Promoting Writing in Mathematics: Prospective Teachers’ Experiences and Perspectives on the Process of Writing When Doing Mathematics as Problem Solving Ana Kuzle1 • Despite a great deal of research on the benefits of writing in mathematics, writing plays a minimal role, if any, in secondary and tertiary mathematics education. In order for teachers to use writing in their classrooms, they themselves have to experience writing mathematics within the teacher education programme. The present paper reports on a study aimed at addressing this gap. In a problem-solving seminar, preservice teachers had an opportunity to experience writing in mathematics and report how this affected their problem-solving processes and shaped their attitudes towards incorporating writing in their classrooms. In order to provide a more detailed description of the phenomenon, four participants were chosen based on their beliefs about mathematics. All of the participants struggled with writing their explanations. Those who used writing as a method to support metacognitive processes while exploring mathematics tended to respond positively to the writing process. The others used writing merely as a method to produce a formal document to be evaluated by the instructor. Consequently, those who viewed writing and doing mathematics as an intertwined process expressed a positive attitude towards using writing in their mathematics classroom. This was, unfortunately, not the case when writing and doing mathematics were seen as two separate processes. Implications for teacher education programmes are presented at the end of the report. Keywords: Attitudes; Beliefs; Metacognition; Problem solving; Prospective mathematics teachers; Writing in mathematics 1 University of Paderborn, Germany; [akuzle@math.upb.de](akuzle@math.upb.de) Spodbujanje pisanja pri matematiki – izkušnje in pogledi bodočih učiteljev na proces pisanja pri reševanju problemov pri matematiki Ana Kuzle • Kljub številnim raziskavam o koristi pisanja pri matematiki ima ta dejavnost – če že – minimalno vlogo v sekundarnem in terciarnemizobraževanju. Da bi se učitelji posluževali pisanja pri učnih urah, morajo tudi sami dobiti izkušnjo pisanja pri matematiki, in sicer med svojim pedagoškim izobraževanjem. Članek poroča o raziskavi, ki je bila namenjena obravnavi te vrzeli. Na seminarju iz reševanja problemov so prihodnji učitelji dobili izkušnjo pisanja pri matematiki; poročali so, kako je tovplivalo na njihov proces reševanja problemov in oblikovalo njihov odnos do vključevanja pisanja v njihove učne ure. Z namenom podrobnejšegaopisa pojava so bili glede na prepričanje o matematiki izbrani štirjeudeleženci. Vsi so se spopadali s pisanjem svojih razlag. Tisti, ki so uporabili pisanje kot metodo za podporo metakognitivnih procesov pri raziskovanju matematike, so se nagibali k pozitivnemu odzivu do procesa pisanja. Preostali so uporabili pisanje samo kot metodo za oblikovanje pisnega dokumenta, ki služi za pregled profesorja. Posledično so tisti, ki so dojeli pisanje in pouk matematike kot en sam prepleten proces, izrazili pozitivenodnos do uporabe pisanja pri matematičnih učnih urah. Tako pa ni bilo pri tistih, ki so pisanje in pouk matematike videli kot dva ločena procesa. Predlogi za program izobraževanja učiteljev so podani na koncu članka. Ključne besede: stališča, prepričanja, metakognicija, reševanje problemov, prihodnji učitelji matematike, pisanje pri matematiki Introduction Students often ask: What does writing have to do with mathematics? They are not open to the idea of writing in mathematics and very often view writing only as a part of language and social studies classes. On the other hand, educational organisations and researchers advocate using writing in mathematics. In its report An Agenda for Action, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ([NCTM], 1980) strongly recommended that the process of writing in mathematics become an integral part of mathematics less

FAQs

Why is writing in mathematics often not integrated into classroom practice?

Research highlights writing’s benefits, but writing plays a minimal role in secondary and tertiary mathematics education, so teachers need experience to use it effectively.

What was the core purpose of the study described in the paper?

The paper addressed a gap by examining how preservice teachers experience writing in mathematics and how that experience affects their problem-solving process and attitudes toward incorporating writing.

How did participants differ in the way they used writing?

Some participants used writing to support metacognitive processes while exploring mathematics, leading to positive attitudes; others used writing mainly to produce a formal document for instructor evaluation.

Oct 15, 2026

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