BELIEF AND PRACTICE RELATED TO ANALOGY USE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING MATHEMATICS

This study investigates prospective teachers' beliefs and proficiency in using analogies in teaching and learning mathematics. The research was carried out with 22 prospective teachers. It employed a qualitative inquiry and used written exam and semi-structured interviews as the main source of data. Data were analysed using content and discourse analysis techniques. The participants had strong beliefs in the effectiveness of analogy use in teaching and learning mathematics and, they claimed that analogies would promote meaningful learning and improve students' attitudes towards mathematics. However, they had lack of proficiency in using such kind of instructional tools. Many of the analogues that they used had no content validity to represent the sub-notions of function. They had also difficulty in illustrating the transfer of knowledge from analogue to targeted concept