ERIC Number: EJ1175366
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1326-0286
EISSN: N/A
A String Number-Line Lesson Sequence to Promote Students' Relative Thinking and Understanding of Scale, Key Elements of Proportional Reasoning
Hilton, Annette; Hilton, Geoff
Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom, v23 n1 p13-18 2018
This article describes part of a study in which researchers designed lesson sequences based around using a string number line to help teachers support children's development of relative thinking and understanding of linear scale. In the first year of the study, eight teachers of Years 3-5 participated in four one-day professional development workshops (one per term), with implementation of the lesson sequences between each. The goal was to design and trial activities that could be easily implemented by teachers using simple resources and to determine their impact on students' ability to use proportional reasoning. The teachers gave their students a test prior to the first lesson and the same test was repeated in the week following the lesson sequence. In total, 204 students completed both pre- and post-tests. This approach proved effective for developing students' understanding of concepts related to scale and relative thinking as well as their mathematical language, which is essential in the development of conceptual understanding. It was also useful for teachers' own professional learning and as a means of assessing and monitoring their students' understanding and progress.
Descriptors: Mathematics Education, Mathematics Instruction, Abstract Reasoning, Mathematical Logic, Sequential Learning, Mathematics Teachers, Teacher Workshops, Faculty Development, Mathematics Tests, Pretests Posttests, Mathematical Concepts, Mathematics Activities, Foreign Countries
Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). Tel: +61-8-8363-0288; e-mail: office@aamt.edu.au; Web site: https://primarystandards.aamt.edu.au/Journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A