Recognition of an equation as an algebraic description of contextualised situations by fifth graders

International audienceIn this study we qualitatively explore the conceptual and semantic understanding of equations of elementary school pupils who were introduced to solving basic linear equations. We analyse the individual answers of 38 fifth grade students in a Czech public primary school to a paper-based task consisting of justifying whether the equation 5+2x=13 algebraically describes each one of 5 contextualised situations presented. Under a grounded theory approach, we provide a system of categories of the students' strategies to address this question. Our findings show the students' abilities to deal with the task and to infer true mathematical facts about equations, the wide variety and nature of students' strategies and the apparent dependency of the strategy on the system of representation of the situation