Summary
Contents
Subject index
How do children relate to numbers and mathematics? How can they be helped to understand and make sense of them? People are rarely ambivalent towards mathematics, having either a love or hate relationship with the subject, and our approach to it is influenced by a variety of factors. How we are taught mathematics as children plays a big role in our feelings towards it. Numbers play a large part in our lives, and it is therefore beneficial to inspire a positive attitude towards them at a young age.
With contributors comprised of teachers, teacher educators, mathematicians, and psychologists, Mathematical Misconceptions brings together information about pupils' work from four different countries, and looks at how children, from the ages of 3 – 11, think about numbers and use them. It explores the reasons for their successes, misunderstandings, and misconceptions, while also broadening the reader's own mathematical knowledge. Chapters explore:
- The seemingly paradoxical number zero
- The concept of equality
- Children's perceptions and misconceptions of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
- The learning process
- The ways in which children acquire number concepts
- This unique book will transform the way in which primary school teachers think about mathematics. Fascinating reading for anyone working with children of this age, it will be of particular interest to teachers, trainee teachers, and teaching assistants. It shows them how to engage children in the mysteries and delights of numbers.
Right or Wrong? Exploring Misconceptions in Division
Right or Wrong? Exploring Misconceptions in Division
Pause for Thought
Are you a talker or more of a listener? Do you find that discussions help you clarify your thinking?
Over the years that we have worked first as school teachers and then as teacher educators, we have discovered how conversations with others are a very effective way to develop our understanding of a wide range of topics. Sometimes we come to such discussions thinking we are fairly knowledgeable. At other times we come with little or no understanding. Almost invariably, however, we come away from talking to friends and colleagues feeling better informed and energised.
In this chapter we will demonstrate how mathematical tasks can serve to stimulate discussions ...
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