Malara N, Navarra G. (2000). Explorative ways to encourage algebraic thinking through problems
Malara N, Navarra G. (2000). Explorative ways to encourage algebraic thinking through problems. Proc. Of 2nd Mediterranean Conference on Mathematics Education, Nicosia. 55-64. Anche versione italiana in L’Educazione Matematica, anno XXVI, serie VI, n.1, vol.2, 7-21.
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We present some results on a research in progress realized in various classes at the end of primary school and at the beginning of secondary school (pupils aged 10-11) aimed at promote algebraic thinking through problems. The research concerns the concept of linear equation, seen as a point of arrival of a working process centred on subsequent schematizations of representations of situations related to the usage of the two-pan scale, a way which allows to focus the pupils’ attention on principles of equivalence like “theorems-in-action”. One of the keypoints of our research deals with the delicate passage from iconic symbols to letters. From this study it appears that this passage is not so problematic if the pupils have previously understood the meaning of the icon as representation of a quantity.
