The present study aimed to examine children's and adults' performance and strategies in volume estimations. Three tasks were designed and presented to 40 adults and 40 6th grade children who were asked to estimate: (a) the number of unit measures (bricks/rice spoons) that may be put in a container, (b) the quantity of bricks/rice, between two…

This article provides an analysis of a data set coming from a two-phase qualitative study that focused on fostering primary students' abstraction of interrelations among quadrilaterals (squares, rectangles, parallelograms, rhombuses, trapezoids). The pilot study consisted of work with eight primary students operating at van Hiele level 2 (e.g.,…

This study presents the results of a series of design experiments that aimed to engage twelve fourth-grade students in mathematical activity exploring the volume of right prisms and cylinders as a dynamic sweep of a surface through a height, an approach that is referred to as Dynamic Measurement for Volume (DYME-V). This article describes this…

Despite significant research exploring students' quantitative reasoning, few studies have explored the semiotic processes that mediate its development. In this report, we present a case study to show how one student constructed a semiotic chain for a quantity as he worked with a mathematical task. Importantly, we connect frameworks for…

In this study we applied a discursive perspective of learning (Sfard, 2008) to a sequence of 21 geometry mini-lessons taught in a fourth grade classroom. From this perspective, learning is defined as changes in mathematical discourse. We first characterize and then compare discourse from the beginning and the end of the mini-lesson sequence. We…

Self-efficacy in mathematics is related to engagement, persistence, and academic performance. Prior research focused mostly on examining changes to students' self-efficacy across large time intervals (months or years), and paid less attention to changes at the level of lesson sequences. Knowledge of how self-efficacy changes during a sequence of…

Spatial visualisation is a subset of spatial ability and is exemplified in predicting whether or not a net will fold to form a target solid. The researchers examined video of interviews to explore the schemes of Year 5 students for determining the validity of nets for a cube and pyramid. Findings suggest the significance of imaged actions, shown…

In this report we present the methodology used in a study that investigated the tacit-explicit dynamic in learning processes. We have analyzed an episode related to a discussion about the difference between plane figures and spatial figures promoted by the teacher in her mathematics classroom (the students are aged 11 to 12). The data analysis was…