Promoting the understanding of representations by grade 3 pupils: Two teachers' practices

In this paper we analyse the practice of two grade 3 teachers in order to understand how they promote their pupils’ understanding of representations. Two lessons were video recorded and we focused on teacher-pupils’ interactions. Data collected from three different moments (introduction of the task, pupils’ autonomous work, and whole class discussion) were analysed through content analysis. The results show that the way the teachers organize the different classroom moments are related to their perception of pupils’ needs and difficulties and that to promote their pupils’ understanding of representations both adapt their actions and questioning to this perception.