Linking Representations of Equality in First-Grade Mathematics Lessons in China

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Instructional Practices in Mathematics

Abstract

One instructional practice that can promote learning and conceptual understanding in mathematics is making links among representations. In this research, we sought to characterize how elementary teachers in China link different representations of mathematical information during instruction about mathematical equality. We reviewed three lessons to identify the representations used in lessons about equality, and we analyzed the linking episodes from one lesson in detail. The teacher expressed key links repeatedly and in multiple ways, including by engaging her students in expressing portions of the links. Her sequencing of links within the lesson aligned with the concrete-representational-abstract sequence. Finally, the teacher expressed most links multi-modally, frequently using gestures to indicate the representations to be linked.

Authors

• Martha W. Alibali, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Meixia Ding, Temple University

• Amelia Yeo, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Helen Huang, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Rui Meng, University of Wisconsin - Madison