The aim of this study was to determine how 5-year-old children identified the functional relationship of correspondence, and whether or not they generalized when working on a task that involved programmable robots. We conducted this study with 15 children (9 girls and 6 boys) in their last year of preschool education. The study was designed around…

GeoGebra is a dynamic software that is frequently used and of increasing importance in mathematics teaching processes in our digital age. Accordingly, in this study a new perspective has been brought to the proofs of the "two square difference identity" expressed for the square, which is a flat polygon, made with different approaches.…

Algebraic thinking is the ability to generalize about numbers and calculations, find concepts from patterns and functions and form ideas using symbols. It is important to know the student's algebraic thinking process, by knowing the student's thinking process one can find out the location of student difficulties and the causes of these…

Different types of reasoning, such as intuitive, inductive, and deductive, are used in the generalization of figural patterns, as an important part of patterns in school mathematics. It is difficult to demarcate the constructive patterns where the regularity observed in the first few sentences is generalizable to the other sentences and each…

This paper is part of broader research being conducted in the area of algebraic thinking in primary education. Our general research objective was to identify and describe generalization of a 2nd grade student (aged 7-8). Specifically, we focused on the transition from arithmetic to algebraic generalization. The notion of structure and its…

Capacities for abstract thinking and problem-solving are central to human cognition. Processes of abstraction allow the transfer of experiences and knowledge between contexts helping us make informed decisions in new or changing contexts. While we are often inclined to relate such reasoning capacities to individual minds and brains, they may in…

Recent research has highlighted the role of functional relationships in introducing elementary school students to algebraic thinking. This functional approach is here considered to study essential components of algebraic thinking such as generalization and its representation, as well as the strategies used by students and their connection with…

The purpose of this study is to further our understanding of orchestrating math-talk with digital technology. The technology used is common in Swedish mathematics classrooms and involves personal computers, a projector directed towards a whiteboard at the front of the class and software programs for facilitating communication and collective…

An important approach for developing children's algebraic thinking involves introducing them to generalized arithmetic at the time they are learning arithmetic. Our aim in this study was to investigate children's attention to and expression of generality with the subtraction-compensation property, as evidence of a type of algebraic thinking known…

Even though there is a great temptation as teachers to share what is known, many are aware of an idea called "rules that expire" (RTE) and have realized the importance of avoiding them. There is evidence that students need to understand mathematical concepts and that merely presenting rules to carry out in a procedural and disconnected…

This study investigated how three fifth-grade students' understanding of fraction and decimal magnitude evolved over the course of a five-week teaching experiment. Students participated in teaching and learning sessions focused on developing concepts of fraction and decimal magnitude. The following questions guided this study: (1) How do fifth…

Given the relevance of graphs of functions, we consider their inclusion in primary education from the functional approach to early algebra. The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the students' production and reading of graphs when they solved generalization problems from a functional thinking approach. We aim to explore how 3rd and…

This study presents the preliminary qualitative results of a larger mixed methods study. The qualitative phase utilized task-based clinical interviews to examine the non-symbolic and symbolic linear generalizations of middle-grades students. This investigation identified similarities and differences in the students' generalizations, and…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to provide a historical overview of studies on generalisation in mathematics education for future research. Because, generalisation is one of the most important mathematical thinking processes and the essence of mathematics. Thus, there are many studies related with generalisation. Method: This study is survey…

Early algebraic thinking is the reasoning engaged in by 5- to 12-year-olds as they build meaning for the objects and ways of thinking to be encountered within the later study of secondary school algebra. Ever since the 1990s when interest in developing algebraic thinking in the earlier grades began to emerge, there has been a steady growth in the…