Preservice Teachers Interpretations of First Degree Equation in Two Variables

The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers’ conceptual understandings and difficulties they experienced while interpreting first degree equations in two variables. The participants of the study were 162 pre-service teachers in their junior year at a state university located in Turkey. The participating pre-service teachers were asked to write a real-life problem that can be solved with the following equation system: 2x-3y=19 3x+6y=18 In this way, an attempt was made to elicit how pre-service teachers analyze the equation system and how the concepts involved in the system were handled. As a result, it was concluded that the pre-service teachers did experience difficulties in interpreting first degree equations in two variables and in making sense of the related concepts as well as having serious shortcomings related to these concepts.