Number Theory in Mathematics Education Perspectives and Prospects |
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| Editor:
| Zazkis, Rina
Campbell, Stephen R. |
| Series title: | Studies in Mathematical Thinking and Learning Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-0-203-05390-4 |
| Publication Date: | Oct 2012 |
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis Group
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| Imprint: | Routledge |
| Book Format: | Digital (delivered electronically) |
| List Price: | USD $52.95 |
Book Description:
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This book offers multiple interconnected perspectives on the largely untapped potential of elementary number theory for mathematics education: its formal and cognitive nature, its relation to arithmetic and algebra, its accessibility, its utility and intrinsic merits, to name just a few. Its purpose is to promote explication and critical dialogue about these issues within the international mathematics education community. The studies comprise a variety of pedagogical and research...
More DescriptionThis book offers multiple interconnected perspectives on the largely untapped potential of elementary number theory for mathematics education: its formal and cognitive nature, its relation to arithmetic and algebra, its accessibility, its utility and intrinsic merits, to name just a few. Its purpose is to promote explication and critical dialogue about these issues within the international mathematics education community. The studies comprise a variety of pedagogical and research orientations by an international group of researchers that, collectively, make a compelling case for the relevance and importance of number theory in mathematics education in both pre K-16 settings and mathematics teacher education.
Topics variously engaged include:
*understanding particular concepts related to numerical structure and number theory;
*elaborating on the historical and psychological relevance of number theory in concept development;
*attaining a smooth transition and extension from pattern recognition to formative principles;
*appreciating the aesthetics of number structure;
*exploring its suitability in terms of making connections leading to aha! insights and reaching toward the learner's affective domain;
*reexamining previously constructed knowledge from a novel angle;
*investigating connections between technique and theory;
*utilizing computers and calculators as pedagogical tools; and
*generally illuminating the role number theory concepts could play in developing mathematical knowledge and reasoning in students and teachers.
Overall, the chapters of this book highlight number theory-related topics as a stepping-stone from arithmetic toward generalization and algebraic formalism, and as a means for providing intuitively grounded meanings of numbers, variables, functions, and proofs.
Number Theory in Mathematics Education: Perspectives and Prospects is of interest to researchers, teacher educators, and students in the field of mathematics education, and is well suited as a text for upper-level mathematics education courses.