Inhibitory control as a regulatory process in geometry problem solving: Evidence from pre-service mathematics teachers

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined how inhibitory control was manifested as a regulatory process during geometry problem solving by pre-service mathematics teachers through an analysis of three contrasting cases. Method: Thirty-two fifth-semester mathematics education students completed a contextual geometry task. Three information-rich cases were purposively selected based on data completeness, the detail of the think-aloud data, willingness to participate in interviews, and traceability across written and verbal evidence. Written work, think-aloud data, audiovisual recordings, and task-based interviews were integrated to trace regulatory actions across understanding, planning, execution, and looking back. Findings: Inhibitory regulation was observed when participants postponed premature calculations, selected relevant information, monitored cognitive conflict, withheld insufficiently justified procedures, revised strategies, re-examined assumptions, and evaluated the plausibility of their solutions. S1 showed moderate regulation with remaining weaknesses in interpreting approximate and contextual information; S2 showed weak procedural monitoring and greater susceptibility to visual and numerical cues; and S3 showed stronger strategic monitoring but an incomplete representation of the tree-planting context. Significance: Within the three cases, inhibitory control appeared as a cross-cutting and situated regulatory process rather than a separate problem-solving stage. The proposed framework provides a process-oriented basis for analyzing how prospective teachers regulate attractive but mathematically inappropriate responses and for designing future studies that examine these actions more systematically.