Many studies on mathematics education have revealed the importance of proof. It was thought that the determination of the difficulties encountered by pre-service mathematics teachers in mathematical proving was significant for the construction of undergraduate courses where students could improve their proving skills and the development of appropriate teaching methods. This study aimed at determining the difficulties encountered by pre-service primary school mathematics teachers during mathematical proving and the reasons for such difficulties.

The study was conducted as a case study. The participants of the study were 185 students attending the department of primary education mathematics education in a state university in Ankara. 53 of them were first grade students, 50 of them were second grade students, 54 of them were third grade students, and 28 of them were fourth grade students. A questionnaire developed by the researchers and made up of 17 open-ended questions was used for data collection. The questions included in the questionnaire were about the difficulties encountered by pre-service teachers during proving, their general opinions regarding proving, appropriate teaching methods to improve their proving skills, the place and necessity of proving in mathematics education, etc.

Based on the student answers, it was determined that they thought mathematical proving was important and necessary. In addition, the students stated that they did not know where they should start proving and what methods they should use, they had difficulty in understanding due to its abstract and complicated nature, and they had mostly been subject to learn-by-rote education system, but they had not encountered any situation forcing them to improve their proving skills until they came to the university. Apart from that, it was found out that some pre-service teachers had negative attitude towards proving, they did not consider themselves competent in that matter, and they were not self-confident on that subject. Thus, it was concluded that affective dimension was influential on the difficulty experienced in proving. Other findings will be represented in the presentation in detail.