The purpose of this study is to investigate the development of relational thinking skill, which is an important component of the transition from arithmetic to algebra, of 5th grade students. In the study, the qualitative research method of teaching experiment was used. The research data were collected from six secondary school 5th grade students…

Assimilating multiple interactive elements simultaneously in working memory to allow understanding to occur, while solving an equation, would impose a high cognitive load. "Element interactivity" arises from the interaction between elements within and across operational and relational lines. Moreover, operating with special features…

This research explores the interplay between students' understandings of proportional and functional relationships. Approximately 90 students participated in an early algebra intervention in Grades 3- 5. Before the intervention and after each year of the intervention, we evaluated their understandings of proportional and functional relationships.…

The aim of this study was to determine the role of semiotics in assisting young Indigenous students to engage with and identify the general structure of growing patterns. The theoretical perspective of semiotics underpinned the study. Data are drawn from two Year 3 students, including analysis of pretest questions and two conjecture-driven…

This study explored the development of early functional thinking in fifteen Kindergarten to Grade 2 students. As part of a teaching intervention that emphasized the co-variation between position numbers and number of items in each position of linear growing patterns, students were given a pre and post interview assessment to document their ability…

Proofs were introduced to high school students by a college mathematician. Student interest and knowledge level were assessed through pre and post tests. There was a significant gain in student knowledge but not in interest. Student learning of proof concepts was clearly displayed, while common errors were often related to lack of algebra skills.…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of schema-broadening instruction (SBI) on second graders' word-problem-solving skills and their ability to represent the structure of word problems using algebraic equations. Teachers (n = 18) were randomly assigned to conventional word-problem instruction or SBI word-problem instruction, which…

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference presents the following research reports: (1) Text Talk, Body Talk, Table Talk: A Design of Ratio and Proportion as Classroom Parallel Events (Dor Abrahamson); (2) Generalizing the Context and Generalising the Calculation (Janet Ainley); (3) Interview…