Grasping mathematical objects as related to processes is often considered critical for mathematics understanding. Yet, the ontology of mathematical objects remains under debate. In this paper, we theoretically oppose internalist approaches that claim mental entities as the endpoints of process-object transitions and externalist approaches that…

This study examines the solutions of 34 kindergarten children as they create equal groups from n bottle caps, where n was equal to 8, 9, 22, and 23. For each n, children were asked to find as many different solutions as possible. The number of solutions they found, i.e., children's fluency, as well as the strategies used to create equal groups,…

Within the commognitive perspective, ritual and explorative routines are used in a very particular way to distinguish students' routines according to whether they are driven by social reward or by generating a substantiated narrative. Explorative routines in this theorisation may refer not to inquiry-based activity but to the result of a student's…

Many students persistently misinterpret histograms. This calls for closer inspection of students' strategies when interpreting histograms and case-value plots (which look similar but are different). Using students' gaze data, we ask: "How and how well do upper secondary pre-university school students estimate and compare arithmetic means of…

Mathematical modelling emphasizes the connection between mathematics and reality -- still, tasks are often exclusively introduced inside the classroom. The paper examines the potential of different task settings for mathematical modelling with real objects: outdoors at the real object itself, with photographs and with a 3D model representation. It…

In this paper, the aim is to make a theoretical contribution by focusing on the origin, characteristics, and potential values of the concepts of instrumental and relational understanding. Five characteristics are identified to make it easier to operationalise the concepts and use them as an analytical framework. There is also a focus on how the…

Transitioning from material to theoretical geometry is often considered a significant challenge in compulsory education. Over the last twenty years, research rooted in the Theory of Didactical Situations (TDS) has explored how material geometry can support the teaching and learning of theoretical geometry, promoting continuity in teaching. These…

This study is the first to examine the associations between the occurrence, frequency, and adaptivity of children's subtraction by addition strategy use (SBA; e.g., 712 - 346 = ?; 346 + 54 = 400, 400 + 300 = 700, 700 + 12 = 712, and 54 + 300 + 12 = 366) and their underlying conceptual knowledge. Specifically, we focused on two rarely studied…

Our research aimed to investigate the potential learning benefits to young children of implementing digital interactive multimodal technologies that provide both visual and haptic experiences in elementary mathematics classrooms. We studied the ways in which fourth-grade students collaboratively create collective strategies for solving…

Whole-class mathematical discussion in a problem-solving activity is recognized as a powerful pedagogical activity but also a challenge for teachers who must consider several difficulties that learners might face, particularly in terms of an overload of Working Memory and Executive Functions. This study investigates how the use of a digital…

Previous studies have proposed that students' mathematical understanding develops dynamically through the process known as folding back, in which learners revisit earlier forms of understanding and use them to build even deeper levels of mathematical understanding. Digital learning environments, where students can manipulate representations, are…

Our study aims to determine how Habermas' construct of rationality can serve to identify and interpret the difficulties experienced by university students in the mathematical problem-solving process. To this end, a problem which required modelling and solving a differential equation was used. The problem-solving processes of university students…

This paper describes how the notion of the strongly didactic contract can serve to characterize the teaching adopted to implement a task in probability. It is particularly focused on the reality of mathematical work performed by students and teachers. For this research, classroom sessions were developed in an in-service teacher training course…

Inferentialism has emerged as a valuable theoretical resource in mathematics education. As a theory of meaning about the use and content of concepts, it offers a fresh perspective on traditional epistemological and linguistic questions in the field. Despite its emergence, important inferentialist ideas still need to be operationalized. In this…

Teacher gestures support mathematics learning and promote student collaboration. Aligned with speech, gestures can help students to notice the important visual information of geometry tasks. However, students' visual attention to the teacher's gestural cues during collaborative problem solving remains a largely unexplored field in mathematics…