Michael T. Battista

July 1999, Volume 30, Issue 4, Pages 417 - 448

Abstract:
In this study I utilize psychological and sociocultural components of a constructivist paradigm to provide a detailed analysis of how the cognitive constructions students make as they enumerate 3D arrays of cubes develop and change in an inquiry-based problem-centered mathematics classroom. I describe the classroom work of 3 pairs of 5th graders on an instructional activity involving predicting the number of cubes that fit in graphically depicted boxes, and I carefully explicate how the mental processes of abstraction, reflection, perturbation, spatial structuring, and coordination, along with face-to-face social interaction within pairs, brought about meaningful and powerful student learning.

Classification:
None

Additional Keywords:
Children's strategies, Collaborative learning, Constructivism, Geometry, Intermediate/middle grades, Learning, Measurement, Visualization/spatial areas