Research behind the Best Evidence Synthesis

Item number
BES003

BES selection
Mathematics BES

Format
Journal article

Title
Advancing children's mathematical thinking in everyday mathematics classrooms

Author
Fraivillig, Judith L ; Murphy, Laren A ; Fuson, Karen C

Publisher
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Publishing Year
1999

Source
Journal for research in mathematics education, v.30 n.2 p.148-170

ISSN
00218251

Subject
Curriculum

Descriptors
Curriculum ; Number concepts ; Junior school ; Primary education ; Mathematics skills ; Mathematics teaching

Age Focus
Children (5 to 12 years)

Education level
Primary education

Language
English

How to obtain
Ask at your public or university library. If they don’t have it they can borrow it from another library for a small charge.

Abstract
In this article we present and describe a pedagogical framework that supports children's development of conceptual understanding of mathematics. The framework for Advancing Children's Thinking (ACT) was synthesised from an in-depth analysis of observed and reported data from 1 skillful 1st-grade teacher using the Everyday Mathematics (EM) curriculum. The ACT framework comprises 3 components: Eliciting Children's Solution Methods, Supporting Children's Conceptual Understanding, and Extending Children's Mathematical Thinking. The framework guided a cross-teacher analysis over 5 additional EM 1st-grade teachers. This comparison indicated that teachers often supported children's mathematical thinking but less often elicited or extended children's thinking. The ACT framework can contribute to educational research, teacher education, and the design of mathematics curricula. (Author)

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The Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis programme (BES) : New Zealand Ministry of Education
http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/BES