Awareness of pattern and structure in early mathematical development

Joanne Mulligan*, Michael Mitchelmore

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    179 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Recent educational research has turned increasing attention to the structural development of young students' mathematical thinking. Early algebra, multiplicative reasoning, and spatial structuring are three areas central to this research. There is increasing evidence that an awareness of mathematical structure is crucial to mathematical competence among young children. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new construct, Awareness of Mathematical Pattern and Structure (AMPS), which generalises across mathematical concepts, can be reliably measured, and is correlated with general mathematical understanding. We provide supporting evidence drawn from a study of 103 Grade 1 students.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)33-49
    Number of pages17
    JournalMathematics Education Research Journal
    Volume21
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2009

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