Embodied cognition has recently gained increasing attention in mathematics education research. However, little is known about ways to use an embodied approach to reach for mathematical abstraction. In this study, we investigate this topic for the case of functional thinking (FT) using digital technology (DT) through a systematic literature study.…

The concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) approach is an instructional framework for teaching math wherein students move from using concrete materials to solve problems to using visual representations of the materials, and finally abstract concepts. This study provides a literature synthesis and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of the CRA…

Mathematics teaching and learning goes beyond computations and procedures; it rather includes complex problem-solving and critical thinking. Kilpatrick, Swafford, and Findell (2001) identify five mathematical competencies that are present in mathematics learning: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, adaptive reasoning, strategic…

This paper considers mathematical abstraction as arising through a natural mechanism of the biological brain in which complicated phenomena are compressed into thinkable concepts. The neurons in the brain continually fire in parallel and the brain copes with the saturation of information by the simple expedient of suppressing irrelevant data and…

Examines operations of generalization, identification, discrimination, and synthesis in mathematical concept development from early childhood to late adolescence according to Vygotsky's theory of development. (MDH)