ZAMBIAN MATHEMATICS PRE-SERVICE SECONDARY TEACHERS' KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUNCTION CONCEPT: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND A LITERATURE REVIEW WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR ZAMBIA

This paper presents a review of literature on research about the function concept that is relevant to the study of Zambian mathematics pre-service secondary teachers' knowledge of the function concept. The review relates theory and prior research to the present study. A detailed and comprehensive selection of the available literature that draws upon mathematical subject matter knowledge of functions and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service teachers and the methodology of studying and cataloging such knowledge is presented. The paper also looks at various strong theoretical frameworks describing teacher knowledge of mathematics, the diverse yet overlapping views within the field of mathematics education. Since this review is part of an on going research project, we begin with a brief statement of the problem, and then dive into specific theories that have been used in mathematics education studies. The study seeks to demonstrate the relevance of the key theoretical frameworks that are firmly identified with mathematics education as they relate to the study of the concept of a function. This forms the theoretical base on which this study is located.