Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 38 Issue 1, December 2000
15 – 17
Geometry Problems Promoting Reasoning and Understanding
Alfred B. Manaster and Beth M. Schlesinger
Current mathematics curricula emphasize “truth rather than reasons for truth” (Hare! 1998, 497). This observation was supported in the TIMSS videotape study of Grade 8 mathematics classes, which found few occurrences of explicit mathematical reasoning in any courses other than geometry (Manaster 1998). The four related problems presented in this article provide examples of ways to include justifications of interesting mathematics in courses taught before a geometry course.
