TEACHING AND LEARNING GROUP STRUCTURES IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: AN EXPERIMENT

For some years, schools have been on the threshold of remarkable changes in elementary school mathematics, changes in what is being learned as well as how this learning is taking place. New mathematical topics have been introduced into the elementary classroom based on the belief that, at an early age, the child is able to grasp many of the important concepts previously reserved for more mature mathematical minds. Mathematics, as an hierarchical system of abstractions, imposes the need for accurately stated aims and objectives. What do teachers intend to achieve by requiring that children learn mathematics? Recent research in mathematics education has yielded new insights into the "whys" and the "hows" of learning mathematics, in that much of the value of mathematics lies in the thinking skills that a person acquires through the mental manipulation of mathematical concepts and abstractions