Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 44 Issue 1, December 2006
8 – 16
Jerome Proulx
The purpose of this article is to trigger reflection and discussion on the transition from arithmetic to algebraic problem solving and its teaching. When students are introduced to algebraic problem solving in their first years of secondary schooling, they have already acquired arithmetic procedures, experiences and tools. These arithmetic modes of reasoning significantly differ from the ones we teachers are expected to teach in algebra. Students arrive with at least seven years of arithmetic operations and problem solving. These procedures and ways of doing mathematics are rooted in operations on known quantities or givens, whereas algebra requires operations on unknown quantities.
