TRAINEE PRIMARY TEACHERS' KNOWLEDGE OF GEOMETRY FOR TEACHING

Abstract

One outcome of the implementation of the (UK) National Numeracy Strategy at the primary school level is the privileging of the teaching and learning of number. Yet, as the recent Royal Society report on geometry stresses, it is important to begin the developing of spatial thinking and reasoning at this level. This paper reviews what trainee primary teachers might need to know about geometry in order to teach the geometry component of the mathematics curriculum effectively and confidently. Some initial findings are given from research which suggests that, in the UK, geometry is the area of mathematics in which trainees perform most poorly in initial baseline tests and have the least confidence to teach. Hence it is the area in which trainees need to make most progress if they are to gain qualified teacher status.