February 27, 2008

“I Can’t Write All”

Recognizing Students’ Emerging Algebraic Strategies
Vanessa R. Pitts Bannister and Jesse L. M. Wilkins
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School Vol. 13 No. 5 Dec. 2007

This article addresses the problems of guiding the student from an arithmetic frame of thinking to an algebraic frame of thinking. The authors use an activity where students investigate the different heights of stacked cups. Many of the students use a proportional reasoning approach in a non-proportional situation. The authors believe for students to be successful in their switch from arithmetic thinking to algebraic thinking, they need an intermediate phase of thinking. The activity presented in the article is an excellent start to this process.
Click here to view the full article.

* Filed by math at 3:24 pm under Uncategorized
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