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Characteristics of Mathematical Giftedness in Early Primary School Age

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Mathematical Creativity and Mathematical Giftedness

Part of the book series: ICME-13 Monographs ((ICME13Mo))

Abstract

This study examines characteristics of mathematical giftedness in second graders. First, a possible system of characteristics was designed in theory. Then, this system was verified by giving a paper-and-pencil test with tasks developed for this purpose to 182 mathematically gifted children as well as 69 children of a reference group. In addition to the written tests, semi-structured interviews were conducted with all the participants regarding their results and strategies. The outcomes of the study show that all of the analyzed characteristics of mathematical giftedness can be confirmed. These include the ability to memorize mathematical issues by drawing on identified structures, the ability to construct and use mathematical structures, the ability to switch between modes of representation, the ability to reverse lines of thought, the ability to capture complex structures and work with them, the understanding of relational concepts and the ability to use relational concepts and connections.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For this, the relevant parts of the interviews were transcribed.

  2. 2.

    It should be mentioned that the described procedures after the test cannot be claimed to definitely correspond to the thinking processes during the study. This, however, applies to all attempts to reconstruct thinking processes and thus does not only concern this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06099, Halle, Germany

    Daniela Assmus

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  1. Daniela Assmus
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Correspondence to Daniela Assmus .

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  1. Faculty of Letters and Science, Oil & Gas University of Ploiești, Ploiești, Romania

    Florence Mihaela Singer

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Assmus, D. (2018). Characteristics of Mathematical Giftedness in Early Primary School Age. In: Singer, F. (eds) Mathematical Creativity and Mathematical Giftedness. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73156-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73156-8_6

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