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Mathematical Cognition: In Secondary Years [13–18] Part 1

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Definition/Introduction

The term cognition is synonymous with “knowing” or “thinking” or the process of knowing or thinking. Hence, mathematical cognition is simply defined as “mathematical thinking or knowing” or the “process of mathematical thinking.” In this entry, we examine mathematical cognition as it pertains to the knowing of algebra and calculus, which has been widely studied in the past four decades. This body of work falls under three categories: (1) students’ understanding of, and facility with, threshold concepts (Meyer and Land 2005) in algebra and calculus, (2) environments that enhance learners’ cognition surrounding those concepts, and (3) learners’ global meta-level mathematical activities (Kieran 2007) including problem solving, justifying, and proving as well as describing and justifying properties and relationships of mathematical objects. In this entry, we will focus on the first two categories of research and describe key findings from the body of work reported...

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We acknowledge that this is a modern definition of function. For a detailed analysis of historical development of definition of function, see Selden and Selden (1992).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Azita Manouchehri

  2. Department of Mathematical Sciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Bharath Sriraman

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  1. Azita Manouchehri
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  2. Bharath Sriraman
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Correspondence to Azita Manouchehri or Bharath Sriraman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Centre for Mathematics Education, London South Bank University, London, UK

    Stephen Lerman

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Bharath Sriraman

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Manouchehri, A., Sriraman, B. (2020). Mathematical Cognition: In Secondary Years [13–18] Part 1. In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15789-0_100015

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