Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …

Multiplicative thinking has been widely accepted as a critically important ‘big idea’ of mathematics and one which underpins much mathematical understanding beyond the primary years of schooling. It is therefore of importance to consider the capacity of children to think multiplicatively but also to...

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Main Author: Chris Hurst
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lectito Journals 2017-12-01
Series:European Journal of STEM Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.lectitopublishing.nl/download/children-have-the-capacity-to-think-multiplicatively-as-long-as.pdf
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author Chris Hurst
author_facet Chris Hurst
author_sort Chris Hurst
collection DOAJ
description Multiplicative thinking has been widely accepted as a critically important ‘big idea’ of mathematics and one which underpins much mathematical understanding beyond the primary years of schooling. It is therefore of importance to consider the capacity of children to think multiplicatively but also to consider the capacity of their teachers to teach multiplicative thinking in a conceptual manner. This article focusses specifically on the conceptual links between the multiplicative array, the notion of numbers of equal groups in the multiplicative situation, factors and multiples, the commutative property of multiplication, and the inverse relationship between multiplication and division. A study involving a large sample of primary school students found that whilst most students demonstrated an understanding of some of the aforementioned elements, hardly any of the students were able to connect the ideas or to explain them in terms of each other. As a consequence of the findings, the impact of teacher knowledge on children’s capacity to think multiplicatively was considered.
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spelling doaj.art-ec242fc557af4b8cbd65e7d452dda3172022-12-21T23:02:06ZengLectito JournalsEuropean Journal of STEM Education2468-19542468-43682017-12-012310.20897/ejsteme/78169Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …Chris Hurst0School of Education, Curtin University, AUSTRALIAMultiplicative thinking has been widely accepted as a critically important ‘big idea’ of mathematics and one which underpins much mathematical understanding beyond the primary years of schooling. It is therefore of importance to consider the capacity of children to think multiplicatively but also to consider the capacity of their teachers to teach multiplicative thinking in a conceptual manner. This article focusses specifically on the conceptual links between the multiplicative array, the notion of numbers of equal groups in the multiplicative situation, factors and multiples, the commutative property of multiplication, and the inverse relationship between multiplication and division. A study involving a large sample of primary school students found that whilst most students demonstrated an understanding of some of the aforementioned elements, hardly any of the students were able to connect the ideas or to explain them in terms of each other. As a consequence of the findings, the impact of teacher knowledge on children’s capacity to think multiplicatively was considered.http://www.lectitopublishing.nl/download/children-have-the-capacity-to-think-multiplicatively-as-long-as.pdfmultiplicative thinkingconnected knowledgeteacher knowledgearraysfactorscommutativity
spellingShingle Chris Hurst
Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …
European Journal of STEM Education
multiplicative thinking
connected knowledge
teacher knowledge
arrays
factors
commutativity
title Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …
title_full Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …
title_fullStr Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …
title_full_unstemmed Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …
title_short Children Have the Capacity to Think Multiplicatively, as long as …
title_sort children have the capacity to think multiplicatively as long as
topic multiplicative thinking
connected knowledge
teacher knowledge
arrays
factors
commutativity
url http://www.lectitopublishing.nl/download/children-have-the-capacity-to-think-multiplicatively-as-long-as.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT chrishurst childrenhavethecapacitytothinkmultiplicativelyaslongas