Published In

Building the Foundation: Whole Numbers in the Primary Grades

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

3-2018

Abstract

Increasing globalization encourages assumptions of universalism in teaching and learning, in which cultural and contextual factors are perceived as nonessential. However, our teaching and learning are unavoidably embedded in history, language and culture, from which we draw to organize our educational systems. Such factors can remain hidden but can also provide us with opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of constraints that are taken for granted. This chapter provides a meta-level analysis and synthesis of the what and why of whole number arithmetic (WNA). The summary provides background for the whole volume, which identifies the historical, cultural and linguistic foundations upon which other aspects of learning, teaching and assessment are based. We begin with a historical survey of the development of pre-numeral and numeral systems. We then explore the epistemological and pedagogical insights and highlight the differences between linguistic practices and their links with the universal decimal features of WNA. We investigate inconsistencies between spoken and written numbers and the incompatibility of numeration and calculation and review a number of teaching interventions. Finally, we report the influence of economics and business, academic mathematics, science and technology and public and private stakeholders on WNA to understand how and why curriculum changes are made, with a focus on the fundamental losses and gains.

Description

© The Author(s) 2018

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

DOI

10.1007/978-3-319-63555-2_5

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/29974

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