Flexible and adaptive use of strategies and representations in mathematics education

Abstract

The flexible and adaptive use of strategies and representations is part of a cognitive variability, which enables individuals to solve problems quickly and accurately. The development of these abilities is not simply based on growing experience; instead, we can assume that their acquisition is based on complex cognitive processes. How these processes can be described and how these can be fostered through instructional environments are research questions, which are yet to be answered satisfactorily. This special issue on flexible and adaptive use of strategies and representations in mathematics education encompasses contributions of several authors working in this particular field. They present recent research on flexible and adaptive use of strategies or representations based on theoretical and empirical perspectives. Two commentary articles discuss the presented results against the background of existing theories. © FIZ Karlsruhe 2009.