Boxed into a corner: teaching definitions is a tricky business
Boxed into a corner: teaching definitions is a tricky business
The (UK) National Numeracy Strategy includes the term 'oblong' in the framework for teaching mathematics to pupils aged 8 and over. This article takes issue with this specification. It argues that the term ‘oblong’ is not mathematical and that its use in mathematics lessons both makes it more difficult for pupils to appreciate that squares are rectangles and undermines the key idea of understanding generalisation in mathematics (when ‘weaker’ concepts are used to generalise towards 'stronger' concepts rather than exclude them).
pedagogy, curriculum, teaching, learning, definition, define, intuition, geometry, intuitive, drawing, measurement, imagining, manipulating, figures, mathematics, England, UK, geometric, geometrical, deductive reasoning, proof, school, national curriculum, Euclid, Euclidean
p.14
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
19 January 2001
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
Jones, Keith
(2001)
Boxed into a corner: teaching definitions is a tricky business.
Times Higher Educational Supplement, .
Abstract
The (UK) National Numeracy Strategy includes the term 'oblong' in the framework for teaching mathematics to pupils aged 8 and over. This article takes issue with this specification. It argues that the term ‘oblong’ is not mathematical and that its use in mathematics lessons both makes it more difficult for pupils to appreciate that squares are rectangles and undermines the key idea of understanding generalisation in mathematics (when ‘weaker’ concepts are used to generalise towards 'stronger' concepts rather than exclude them).
Text
JonesK_Boxed_into_a_corner_2008.htm
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More information
Published date: 19 January 2001
Keywords:
pedagogy, curriculum, teaching, learning, definition, define, intuition, geometry, intuitive, drawing, measurement, imagining, manipulating, figures, mathematics, England, UK, geometric, geometrical, deductive reasoning, proof, school, national curriculum, Euclid, Euclidean
Organisations:
Mathematics, Science & Health Education
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 41386
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/41386
ISSN: 0049-3929
PURE UUID: 7cebc68d-3f3c-4e2d-806c-cfdd5bb493a8
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Date deposited: 07 Sep 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 08:29
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