Encountering Algebraic Reasoning in Contemporary Classrooms: Epilogue

Abstract

The analyses in the chapters have taken us into a variety of classrooms at the particular point in time when students are introduced to algebra. There are similarities as well as differences between the classrooms documented in terms of the instructional practices that unfold and the cultures of learning they represent. The empirical results show how teachers, on the basis of their experiences and conceptions about what it means to learn algebra, design classroom activities that they consider conducive to introducing algebra. At the same time, it is obvious that students struggle with the new concepts and procedures and the requirements of modeling problems in the expected mathematical format. In these learning trajectories, there are signs that students are accustomed to arithmetic procedures and a focus on arriving at numerical answers; experiences and assumptions which seem to make it difficult for them to take on tasks that require algebraic forms of reasoning.