Assessing van Hiele’s geometric thinking levels among elementary pre-service mathematics teachers

Teachers’ geometric thinking is crucial to teaching efficacy in geometry since teacher knowledge or thinking serves as a basis for the quality of instruction provided for students’ learning. Teachers’ thinking about geometry has attracted much attention among mathematics education researchers. This study therefore aimed at assessing elementary pre-service teachers’ geometric thinking within the first three levels of van Hiele’s model. The study was guided by three objectives. The objectives were to (1) assess the distribution of van Hiele’s geometric thinking among the study participants, (2) determine if the participating pre-service teachers’ geometric thinking is significant for teaching geometry, and (3) find out if any difference in geometric thinking of the pre-service teachers existed with regard to gender. The study used the descriptive survey design. The study participants were prospective mathematics teachers drawn from four Colleges of Education in the Bono Region and Ashanti Region of Ghana. The Colleges were randomly selected for the study. The study participants comprised 217 pre-service teachers. The van Hiele’s test instrument was adapted and pilot tested to assess the internal consistency of the items in the various levels. The calculated reliability coefficient of the instrument ranged from 0.71 to 0.74. The instrument was administered to the study participants on the scheduled date. Data generated from the participants were analysed based on the study objectives. Findings from the analyses show that pre-service teachers have limited geometric thinking within the first three levels. However, their geometric thinking of the levels assessed was found to be significant which could have some impact on teaching geometry. Findings also reveal gender differences in pre-service mathematics geometric thinking. It is recommended that conscious effort must be made by mathematics teacher educators in the Colleges of Education to deepen the pre-service mathematics teachers’ geometric thinking.