The paper argues that there is a need for new approaches to teaching proof with newly-available technology. It contributes to filling this need by opening a discussion on digital proof assistants, programs that allow one to do mathematics with the aid of a computer, construct proofs, and check their correctness. The paper starts by exploring such…

Mathematics in its nature is exploratory, giving learners a chance to view it from different perspectives. However, during most of their schooling, South African learners are rarely exposed to mathematical explorations, either because of the lack of resources or the nature of the curriculum in use. Perhaps, this is due to teachers' inability to…

This paper highlights the pedagogical importance of gaps in mathematical proofs to foster students' learning of proofs. We use the notion of 'gap-filling' (Perry & Sternberg, 1986) from literary theory to analyze a task based on a Proof Without Words, which epitomizes the notion of gaps. We demonstrate how students fill in gaps in this…

While proof is often presented to mathematics undergraduates as a well-defined mathematical object, the proofs students encounter in different pedagogical contexts may bear salient differences. In this paper we draw on the work of Dawkins and Weber (2017) to explore variations in norms and values underlying a proof across different pedagogical…

Kitcher's idea of 'explanatory unification', while originally proposed in the philosophy of science, may also be relevant to mathematics education, as a way of enhancing student thinking and achieving classroom activity that is closer to authentic mathematical practice. There is, however, no mathematics education research treating explanatory…

When a Year 7 student physically reacted to a prompt of another student by anxiously drumming the desk with his ruler, exclaiming "uuuuhh", the initial thought of the observing researcher, Laura, was: "this is an interesting account". This started a reflective journey of first applying robust research methodologies to the…

In this paper, we discuss the relationship between rhetoric and mathematics, focusing on mathematical proofs. We offer a theoretical framework based on Perelman's New Rhetoric for analyzing the teaching of proof, taking into account rhetorical aspects. We illustrate the practicality and applicability of the proposed framework and methodology by…

Recognizing identity not only as an important educational outcome but also as being inter-related to students' knowledge and practice, this paper explores an affordance of proof scripts; exploring students' identities. Specifically, drawing on data from teaching experiments and the construct of perceptual ambiguity, this paper presents an analysis…

In this paper, we propose a potential interactional explanation of tertiary-to-secondary (dis)continuity: that of authority relations. Using secondary mathematics teachers' proof validations across two contexts, we suggest that secondary teachers' conceptions of authority shape their capacity to reconcile their positions as former mathematics…

The aims of the present study are two-fold. The first aim is to reveal the cultural and linguistic issues that need to be considered in the development of curricular content and sequencing for teaching mathematical proof in secondary schools in Japan. The second aim is to elaborate an epistemological perspective that may allow us to understand…

In this article, we consider the potential influences of the study of proofs in advanced mathematics on secondary mathematics teaching. Thus far, the literature has highlighted the benefits of applying the conclusions of particular proofs to secondary content and of developing a more general sense of disciplinary practices in mathematics in…

Conviction is a central construct in mathematics education research on justification and proof. In this paper, we claim that it is important to distinguish between absolute conviction and relative conviction. We argue that researchers in mathematics education frequently have not done so and this has lead to researchers making unwarranted claims…

It has become gradually accepted that proof and proving are essential at all grades of mathematical learning. Among the various aspects of proof and proving, this study addresses proofs and refutations described by Lakatos, in particular a part of increasing content by deductive guessing, to introduce an authentic process into mathematics…

We analyze the role of generic proofs in helping students access difficult proofs more easily and naturally. We present three examples of generic proving--an elementary one on numbers, a more advanced one on permutations, and yet more advanced one on groups--and consider the affordances and pitfalls of the method by reflecting on these examples. A…

Weber and Alcock's (2004, 2009) syntactic/semantic framework provides a useful means of delineating two basic categories of proof-oriented activity. They define their dichotomy using Goldin's (1998) theory of representation systems. In this paper, I intend to clarify the framework by providing criteria for classifying student reasoning into…