Constructing Number

The book synergizes research on number across two disciplines—mathematics education and psychology. The underlying problem the book addresses is how the brain constructs number. The opening chapter frames the problem in terms of children’s activity, including mental and physical actions. Subsequent chapters are organized into sections that address specific domains of number: natural numbers, fractions, and integers. Chapters within each section address ways that children build upon biological primitives (e.g., subitizing) and prior constructs (e.g., counting sequences) to construct number. The book relies on co-authored chapters and commentaries at the end of each section to create dialogue between junior faculty and senior researchers, as well as between psychologists and mathematics educators. The final chapter brings this work together around the framework of children’s activity and additional themes that arise in the collective work. The book is aimed to appeal to mathematics educators, mathematics teacher educators, mathematics education researchers, educational psychologists, cognitive psychologists, and developmental psychologists.

Explains how children between the ages of four and eight construct a deep understanding of numbers and the operations of addition and subtraction.

A concise introduction to personal and professional numeracy skills, helping readers to become more mathematically competent.

With this book, children can learn the numbers 1 to 20 while getting "e;in shape"e;! Each page shows children using their bodies to make the shape of numbers, alongside simple printed versions of each number. The book complements the similar Alphabet Fun title.

The book synergizes research on number across two disciplines—mathematics education and psychology. The underlying problem the book addresses is how the brain constructs number. The opening chapter frames the problem in terms of children’s activity, including mental and physical actions. Subsequent chapters are organized into sections that address specific domains of number: natural numbers, fractions, and integers. Chapters within each section address ways that children build upon biological primitives (e.g., subitizing) and prior constructs (e.g., counting sequences) to construct number. The book relies on co-authored chapters and commentaries at the end of each section to create dialogue between junior faculty and senior researchers, as well as between psychologists and mathematics educators. The final chapter brings this work together around the framework of children’s activity and additional themes that arise in the collective work. The book is aimed to appeal to mathematics educators, mathematics teacher educators, mathematics education researchers, educational psychologists, cognitive psychologists, and developmental psychologists.

This is the first book that makes the difficult and important subject of transcendental number theory accessible to undergraduate mathematics students. Edward Burger is one of the authors of The Heart of Mathematics, winner of a 2001 Robert W. Hamilton Book Award. He will also be awarded the 2004 Chauvenet Prize, one of the most prestigious MAA prizes for outstanding exposition.

This practical book shows you how to get to know the needs and abilities of your students and help them make sense of math concepts. Designed to enhance your professional learning, the book shows you how to notice, interpret, confirm, and respond to student thinking. You will discover how to structure learning experiences around key number concepts — quantity, counting, relating, and representing — developed across various strands: patterning and algebra, numbers and operations, measurement, geometry, and data and probability. Powerful examples of questions and prompts guide you to create a classroom where students get the support they need as they develop confidence in their number sense.