Inhibiting intuitive thinking in mathematics education

Abstract

The papers in this issue describe recent collaborative research into the role of inhibition of intuitive thinking in mathematics education. This commentary reflects on this research from a mathematics education perspective and draws attention to some of the challenges that arise in collaboration between research fields with different cultures, including the need to agree definitions of terms and find common goals. To place the need for inhibition in context I consider the role that intuitive thinking plays in mathematical thinking and hence the need for careful research to decide when inhibition of intuitive thinking is required. Aspects of that care include the type of items used to examine inhibition and the inferences made about what students might be thinking when they respond. Finally, I propose an area of more advanced mathematical thinking where research could investigate whether inhibition of intuitive thinking might be needed.