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“The Square Thing” as a Context for Understanding, Reasoning and Ways of Knowing Mathematics
Author(s) -
Erchick Diana B.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
school science and mathematics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1949-8594
pISSN - 0036-6803
DOI - 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18193.x
Subject(s) - mathematics education , context (archaeology) , set (abstract data type) , square (algebra) , pedagogy , mathematics , computer science , epistemology , sociology , geometry , paleontology , biology , programming language , philosophy
This paper introduces The Square Thing, a lesson that engages and invites student development of problem solving and reasoning skills, understanding through connections within the content, and mathematics voice. A background for the lesson, an enrichment topic that allows the teacher to set the stage for the problem, is described first. Next, The Square Thing is introduced, along with a discussion of student solutions and pedagogical notes grouped in sections as Estimation Approaches, Coordinate Geometry Approaches, and Parallel Line Approaches. A pedagogical discussion ends the paper, in which components for successful pedagogy and benefits for students experiencing this and similar mathematics pedagogies are described.