Report
Developing Middle School Students' Understanding of Recursive and Explicit Reasoning
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse
2002
Abstract
This study investigated students' generalizations of numeric situations through the use of a whole-class teaching experiment in which students were provided problem situations in order to: (1) trace students' understanding of recursive and explicit reasoning; and (2) describe the sociomathematical norms and classroom practices that were established regarding what constituted a valid justification of a generalization, what was considered an efficient generalization, and what was an acceptable use of notation to represent a generalization. The results demonstrate that students readily accept justifications that link to a general relationship within the context of the problem situation. However, some students also appear to accept faulty "proof by example" justifications for generalizations. Students were able to identify the strengths and limitations of recursive and explicit reasoning, though the connections between these types of reasoning often remained tacit in student explanations. (Contains 27 references.) (MM)
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Developing Middle School Students' Understanding of Recursive and Explicit Reasoning
- Creators
- John Lannin
- Resource Type
- Report
- Publisher
- Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse
- Number of pages
- 36 pages
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2002
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning
- Record Identifier
- 9985223620002771
Metrics
1 Record Views