PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2012
Portland, Oregon
Notion of Reducing Abstraction in Teaching: The Case of Mathematics Instruction
Page: 2-196
Mathematics is an abstract subject. When teachers plan, one of their most important challenges is to figure out ways of translating abstract concepts into understandable ideas. Reducing Abstraction in Teaching (RAT) is one of the theoretical frameworks that provides a window for looking at how teachers deal with abstraction in teaching. By analysing teaching practices of two of the mathematics teachers in college preparatory course, this paper illustrates various tendencies of teachers dealing with mathematical abstraction. It also exemplifies some instances where ‘reducing abstraction’ seems to be an effective teaching strategy while in other cases it may go unsupportive for the development of students’ mathematical understanding.