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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine preservice middle grades teachers Specialized Content Knowledge (SCK) and Knowledge of Content and Students (KCS) as well as their professional noticing strategies. Specifically, the research questions for this study were as follows: 1) What SCK and KCS do middle grades preservice teachers (PSTs) display when engaging with problems about pattern recognition and linear functions? 2) How do preservice middle grades teachers interpret students mathematical thinking with the same problems about pattern recognition and linear functions? 3) What are the differences and similarities among preservice teachers in their SCK, KCS, and interpretations of student thinking, and how do these three elements seem to be related to one another? Four videotaped semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the four middle school preservice teachers. The first three interviews consisted of exploring preservice teachers SCK and KCS on one problem related to linear functions in each interview. The fourth interview consisted of exploring preservice teachers interpretations of videos of middle school students solving the same problems from the first three interviews. The following factors impacted the relationship between SCK, KCS, and interpretation strategies: 1) the type of student artifact (written work versus videos), 2) the aspect of student reasoning (process versus product of student work), 3) the type of approach (focusing on whole classroom or a group of students versus individual students), and 4) the aspect of students mathematical reasoning (students mathematical reasoning versus students mathematical reasoning).