Evaluate the Levels of Geometric Thinking in Student-teachers in Elementary Education Based on Van Hiele Theory

Resumo

Background: Geometry is an important concept in elementary school. The teachers’ capabilities directly impact the quality of education. Hence, one must assess the capabilities of the student-teachers who will soon become elementary teachers. Objectives: Informed by the Van Hiele geometric thinking levels, this study investigates the levels of geometric thinking in student-teachers in elementary education in Iran. Design: Since the results of this study can improve the quality of elementary education, this article, purpose-wise, is considered an applied research that employs a descriptive-survey method which collects the data through a survey answered by the participants. Setting and Participants: The sample includes all 187 student-teachers studying elementary education at Farhangian University of Guilan in 2024. Data collection and analysis: The data collection tool was a questionnaire with 9 four-choice questions and the validity and reliability of questions were confirmed. The Skewness-Kurtosis test confirmed the normality of the data. The T-test was employed to determine the access to the levels. Results: This descriptive survey concluded that second-year student-teachers are at the first level of the Van Hiele thinking, and fourth-year student-teachers are at the second level, and none of the groups reached the third level. So, despite the increase in the level of student-teachers during university education, they are not yet at a desirable level in geometry and have not made significant gains in this domain. Conclusions: The results of this study will inform educational planners about the importance of enriching and improving the geometry curriculum for student-teachers and will ultimately help to improve the level of teachers’ ability. It is also suggested to pay more attention to geometry in university courses for student-teachers of elementary education.