Adaptive Design Reasoning of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers in Instructional Materials Design: A Conjecture Mapping Study

The sustainability of education systems depends on teachers’ capacity to adapt to changing curriculum expectations and diverse student needs. However, there is limited information on how adaptive design reasoning develops in the iterative process of designing and adapting instructional materials by pre-service mathematics teachers. This study reinterprets the Dynamic Capabilities Theory in the context of individual teacher learning, examining how the processes of sensing, seizing, and transformation emerge as teacher candidates develop materials suitable for the new national mathematics curriculum. The research was conducted using a design-based research approach. Conjecture mapping was used to articulate relationships among design features, mediating processes, and observable outcomes. The study group consisted of 23 pre-service mathematics teachers, and in-depth analyses were conducted with two purposefully selected focus participants who exhibited different developmental patterns. The data were obtained from teaching materials, design plans, interviews, and feedback processes; they were analyzed using an inductive-deductive analysis approach. The findings indicate that iterative material design cycles made the adaptive design reasoning of pre-service mathematics teachers visible. Two focus cases, although following different developmental paths in terms of contextual awareness, representational clarity, digital tool usage, feedback-based reflection, and pedagogical justification, have both been observed to have design decisions becoming more conscious and curriculum-sensitive over time. The findings may provide a course-based context for making curriculum-responsive design reasoning visible and open to reflection. Findings should be interpreted within the study context.