CAREER: Understanding and Cultivating the Development of Students' Competencies in Justifying and Proving

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Proof is central to the discipline and practice of mathematics. In school mathematics proof is rarely encountered outside the realm of Euclidean geometry. Recent reform efforts in mathematics education call on schools to provide all students with opportunities and experiences throughout the mathematics curriculum. Yet little is known about the ways grade school students learn to conjecture, to justify and to prove mathematically. More specifically, the grade-levels where least is known are 6th through 8th. With this in mind then, the objectives of this middle school proof study are as follows: Understand the development of students' competencies in justifying and proving: To understand the conditions and pedagogy necessary to promote the development of those competencies; and To develop teacher preparation and professional development materials designed both to enhance teachers' understandings of proof and to support them in fostering the development of students' competencies in justifying and proving.