How primary education students solve problems of generalization of patterns. Alearning trajectory

Abstract

The objective of this research is to study the way in which students of Primary Education solve problems of generalization of pat ter ns. For this we analyzed the level of success, the strategies used and progression of 106 students in 3 rd , 4 th , 5 th and 6 th degree of Primary Education solving one problem of generalization of patterns. The results obtained show that the most successful students begin with additive strategies and then change to functional strategies, that reverse the process has a higher cognitive demand and very few students are able to express the general rule algebraically. The analysis of students’ progression has allowed us to def ine a descriptors of learning trajectory that help to recognize the students’ understanding and to describe their progress in terms of growth through ten levels of development.