Novice Mathematics Teachers' Level of Understanding of the Equal Sign and Equality: A Curtailing Interaction With Pedagogical Insights

ABSTRACT This study focused on prospective and in‐service novice mathematics teachers' conceptualization of and pedagogical insights about the equal sign and equality. Towards this goal, we conducted online interviews with seven prospective and eight in‐service mathematics teachers. We analyzed their descriptions and representations of equality and the equal sign using a theory‐driven construct map to scale levels of understanding and the association between their level of understanding and pedagogical insights. We observed that all the teachers demonstrated a relational understanding of the equal sign, with some variation in the depth of their understanding. In addition, there were some discrepancies as well as consistencies in their responses regarding their understanding of the concept, their hypothetical teaching strategies, and their knowledge of how students think about the equal sign and equality. Some did not maintain the level of their understanding of the equal sign while articulating teaching strategies. This demonstrated a curtailing interaction between novice teachers' content knowledge and their pedagogical insights, the implications of which were discussed in relation to research and practice.