THE DEFINITIONS OF SPATIAL QUANTITIES IN ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM MATERIALS

• In Event: CURRICULUM: ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM MATERIALS

Description

U.S. students' challenges in understanding spatial measurement has been connected to the highly procedural focus of elementary curricula. Because the definitions of quantities are basic conceptual content, we examined definitional-type expressions (related to formal mathematical definitions) for spatial quantities (length, area and volume) within and across elementary curricula with attention to the inclusion of units, quantification, and exhausting space. We found inconsistencies in the presentation of these conceptual aspects. In some cases, the inclusion of particular conceptual content depended on the type of quantity, (e.g. "exhausting space" was strongly emphasized in area measure, but less so in length and volume).

Authors

• Nicholas J. Gilbertson, Michigan State University

• Jia He, Utah Valley University

• V. Rani Satyam, Michigan State University

• Jack Smith, Michigan State University

• Eryn Michelle Stehr, Michigan State University