Re-thinking the role of abstraction in primary schools

This event is part of the School of Education's . These seminars are free and open to the public.

Host: Centre for Teaching, Learning and Curriculum (TLC)

Speaker: Dr. Santiago Alonso Palmas Pérez, University of Bristol and Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

This presentation reports on a project which offers a novel teaching, learning and research tool, against the backdrop of growing interest in East Asian-inspired "bar models" for maths teaching in England. One assumption behind the work is that abstract thinking is accessible for school-age children. As part of the project, I have created a research-informed, interactive, manipulable, intuitive digital version of Cuisenaire rods, which allows the exploration of algebraic ideas with young children. In keeping with the ideas of Gattegno and Davydov, this software seeks to methodically introduce pupils to simple algebraic structures through gradual interactions with virtual rods, emphasizing abstract thinking from the outset of education. This study application differs from earlier ones in that it seeks to develop a basic understanding of how children engage with algebraic principles prior to discovering numerical operations, in line with research on the significance of early algebraic thinking. I will report on the background thinking to the software, the design approach and give participants an opportunity to engage in the software for themselves.

Dr. Santiago Alonso Palmas Pérez completed his Ph.D. studies in Science with a specialization in Educational Mathematics at the Department of Educational Mathematics at CINVESTAV at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), focused on mathematics didactics and mathematics education for young people and adults. He is a Mathematician from the Faculty of Sciences at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and a Master´s in Educational Research from the Department of Educational Research at CINVESTAV-IPN.

He has taught undergraduate, high school, middle school, high school, and with young people and adults with low schooling. He has coordinated literacy campaigns, including the training of literacy teachers, since 2005. Author of textbooks for secondary education, didactic designs, didactic software developments, as well as several research articles on educational mathematics.

He has collaborated in projects with INEA, INEE and recently co-authored the free textbook with SEP. Currently attached and head of the Department of Cultural Studies at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) Lerma Campus, he works on research on the socio-political role of mathematics education. Member of the National System of Researchers and desirable profile PRODEP.

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