Analysis of Students' Reasoning in Solving Comparison Problems

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the degree of analyticity in the reasoning of both the 6th grade of elementary school and the first year of middle school, related to activities called comparison problems which are qualified as conducive to emerge analytical reasoning characterizing algebraic thinking according to several researchers (Bednarz et al., 1996; Radford, 2010; Squalli, 2000). The results we found show that a powerful algebraic potential exists in these types of activities. Moreover, they show that the letter’s presence or absence did not prevent the students from deploying sophisticated analytical reasoning.