Algebraic thinking and level of generalisation: students’ experiencing of comparisons of quantities

Helena Eriksson

doi:10.7146/nomad.v24i3-4.149039

Authors

Helena Eriksson

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/nomad.v24i3-4.149039

Abstract

This article explores grade 1 students’ different ways of experiencing quantity comparisons after participating in teaching designed as a learning activity using tasks from the Davydov curriculum. A phenomenographic analysis generated three hierarchical ways of experiencing comparisons: counting numerically, relating quantities, and conserving relationships. The first category comprises arithmetic ways of thinking, whereas the second and third categories comprise algebraic ways of thinking. Algebraic thinking was identified as reflections on relationships between quantities at different levels of generalisation. The implications of these results in relation learning activity theory are discussed.

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