Abstract:
The main aim of the present study with relational screening model was to analyze the
relationship between reflective thinking skills and philosophical views regarding the
nature of mathematics (NoM) in secondary school mathematics teacher candidates. In
addition, it was aimed to determine whether the reflective thinking levels of the candidates
displayed a significant difference according to absolutist, mixed, and semi-experimentalist
groups. The study group consisted of 196 secondary school mathematics teacher
candidates studying in the mathematics teaching program in the spring semester of the
2021-2022 academic year. As data collection tools, The Scale for Determining
Philosophical Views Regarding the NoM and The Scale for Determining the Level of
Reflective Thinking were used. In the analysis of the data, in addition to descriptive
statistics, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple linear
regression analysis were employed. In the study, it was determined that both reflective
thinking levels and the philosophical views regarding the NoM were found to be high in
mathematics teacher candidates. Besides, it was determined that there was a positive and
moderate relationship between the reflective thinking level subdimensions and and the
philosphocial views on the NoM in the teacher candidates, and that the variables of the
reflective thinking level subdimensions explained 44% of the variance in the philosophical
views on the NoM. Moreover, it was concluded that there was a statistically significant
difference between the semi-experimentalist group and the mixed and absolutist groups
in favor of the semi-experimentalist group in terms of critical reflection, reflection and
understanding skills, and between the absolutist group and the mixed and semiexperimentalist groups in favor of the absolutist group in terms of habitual actions
subdimension.
