“If you can count to ten you can count to infinity really”: Fostering conceptual mathematical thinking in the first year of primary school

Iannone, Paola and Cockburn, Anne D. (2008) “If you can count to ten you can count to infinity really”: Fostering conceptual mathematical thinking in the first year of primary school. Research in Mathematics Education, 10 (1). pp. 37-51. ISSN 1754-0178

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Abstract

In this paper we investigate how teachers can foster conceptual mathematical thinking in five- and six-year-old pupils in a classroom situation. In this context we define conceptual mathematical thinking as instances where pupils verbalise mathematical thinking linked to abstraction and generalisation. We focus on one case study to explore the impact of teachers’ epistemology of mathematics in introducing two sociomathematical norms in the classroom: what counts as a mathematical answer and how such an answer is incorporated in the mathematical discourse of the teacher and pupils in the classroom. We then link the introduction of these sociomathematical norms to the presence of instances of conceptual mathematical thinking as observed in the classroom. We conclude that pupils are more consistently engaged in conceptual mathematical thinking in the classrooms of teachers who view mathematics as a web of interconnected ideas, and perceive it as being about general structure and patterns.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Research in Mathematics Education
Depositing User:	Libby Allen
Date Deposited:	29 Nov 2010 14:26
Last Modified:	28 Mar 2025 03:36
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/15768
DOI:	10.1080/14794800801915897

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