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CHAPTER N: EARLY NUMBER SENSE:

DEVELOPING MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS

Marianna Tzekaki & Giorgios Barbas

Numbers are generally regarded as a main component for every mathematical development. This chapter focuses on young children’s development of dynamic numerical mental representations and proposes situations that give experiences concerning the different aspects and relations of numbers at a representational level. The experience of different countries where the trailed tasks have led to the development of mental representations are presented and the ways different teachers handle numeric situations in their classrooms are compared.

The chapter investigates which activities they encourage, the mathematical focus they set, the changes that occur in their teaching method and the changes that are needed for the benefit of the students. A constructivist approach to the development of ‘number sense’ is strongly related to teaching situations that give students the chance to familiarize themselves with numbers, with their properties, their interrelations, combinations and estimations.

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Charles University Prague, The Faculty of Education
Department of Mathematics and Mathematics Education