The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service teachers’ knowledge of content and
students vis-à-vis their ability to anticipate, identify and clear high school students’
misconceptions about inverse and composite functions. To accomplish this goal a case study
research design was used to examine one fourth year mathematics education pre-service teacher
from one of Zambia’s public universities. A case study strategy was preferred for this study
because it enables the researcher to focus and have an in-depth investigation of an individual
subject in a natural setting. As a data collection tool, the study used a questionnaire containing 7
vignettes comprising 4 inverse function vignettes and 3 composite function vignettes. Data were
analyzed based on Ebert’s framework for characterizing the level of proficiency of functions and
graphs. Findings revealed that the pre-service teacher’s level of proficiency of identifying and
clearing students’ misconceptions was mostly good. Results suggest that vignettes might be
useful in mathematical pedagogical courses in teacher education.
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