Obstacles and Difficulties of Students in Incorporating Integer Numbers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35763/aiem26.4725Keywords:
NumbersLearning, Epistemological obstacles, Didactic obstacles, Learning difficultiesAbstract
The incorporation of wholes numbers in the teaching of mathematics supposes a break with the number representation built from natural numbers and implies a profound change in the students’ mathematical thinking. This research studies the incorporation of wholes numbers in teaching, analyzing the responses of 266 students from 6th grade of Primary and 1st grade of Secondary to a questionnaire in which they must identify and interpret two types of situations (state and additive) expressed in three dimensions (abstract, straight and contextual) and transfers between dimensions. Based on the results, it is conjectured the persistence of the epistemological obstacle of the number as an expression of quantity, the difficulties to differentiate the different meanings of the minus sign and the didactic obstacles of a frequently decontextualized teaching that gives priority to operational calculus and relegates the straight line numeric.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Alberto Zapatera Llinares, Eduardo Quevedo Gutiérrez, Sofía González Gallego, Alejandro Santana Coll, Judit Álamo Rosales
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