Abstract:

In this study, it is aimed to examine the number senses of primary school mathematics teacher candidates. In the study, the number sense skills of two teachers candidates at different levels of number sense success were examined  in-depth and the case study design was used by making comparisons since the current situation was examined. Two elementary school mathematics teacher candidates who participated in the study were selected by using the extreme (deviant) case sampling. Number sense test and clinical interview number sense test were used to collect data. The qualitative data were subjected to content analysis and document review. As a result of the research, the findings regarding the strategies used by the teacher candidates to solve problems, the number sense use levels, the number sense components, and their relationships with number sense were obtained. As a result of this study, there were sharp differences between two teacher candidates with high and low number sense levels in the use of number sense characteristics. According to the results, when the problem solving processes of the teacher candidates were examined, their strategies were diversified such as using rules, making incorrect calculations, answers without explanations, intuitive ideas, mental calculations, and estimating strategies.

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