Elaborating Models of Students' Spatial-Multiplicative Reasoning: An Investigation of Sixth Graders' Solutions of Combinatorics Problems

• In Event: 16.056 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.056-14 - Students' Mathematical Thinking: Grades 5-8

Abstract

An interview study was conducted with 14 6th grade students to investigate the way that they coordinated one- and two-dimensional units in the context of solving combinatorics problems. Students were selected into the study based on their multiplicative reasoning; the aim was to select a balanced mix of students using one of three multiplicative concepts that has been identified in prior research. Findings include information on how students’ spatially structured one- and two-dimensional units, how they multiplicatively related these units, including whether and how they established a quadratic relationship between them. These findings extend prior research on students’ understanding of two-dimensional measurement by explicitly attending to how students’ related one and two-dimensional units.

Author

• Erik S. Tillema, Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis