Generalizing in the context of an early algebra intervention (La generalización en el contexto de una intervención algebraica temprana)

Abstract

This study aims to understand the instructional interactions that foster students’ generalizing. By analysing video-recorded lessons from 13 different Grade 3 classrooms in which an early algebra intervention was implemented, activities related to generalizing and students’ generalizing activities were identified, and the nature of the relationships between these activities were explored. Namely, I consider the activities that potentially encourage students’ generalizing and the generalizing that students themselves do, and describe ways in which these activities interact. The findings have both practical and theoretical implications; in the former case, they provide insight into the design of instruction to foster generalizing, and in the latter case, they contribute to an ongoing conversation about students’ mathematics learning.