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Boxed into a corner: teaching definitions is a tricky business

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
0049-3929
p.14
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f

Jones, Keith (2001) Boxed into a corner: teaching definitions is a tricky business. Times Higher Educational Supplement, p.14.

Record type: Article

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).

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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
ORCID for Keith Jones: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3677-8802

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Sep 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 08:29

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