The Notion of Proof in the Context of Elementary School Mathematics

Abstract

Despite increased appreciation of the role of proof in students’ mathematical experiences across all grades, little research has focused on the issue of understanding and characterizing the notion of proof at the elementary school level. This paper takes a step toward addressing this limitation, by examining the characteristics of four major features of any given argument – foundation, formulation, representation, and social dimension – so that the argument could count as proof at the elementary school level. My examination is situated in an episode from a third-grade class, which presents a student’s argument that could potentially count as proof. In order to examine the extent to which this argument could count as proof (given its four major elements), I develop and use a theoretical framework that is comprised of two principles for conceptualizing the notion of proof in school mathematics: (1) The intellectual-honesty principle, which states that the notion of proof in school mathematics should be conceptualized so that it is, at once, honest to mathematics as a discipline and honoring of students as mathematical learners; and (2) The continuum principle, which states that there should be continuity in how the notion of proof is conceptualized in different grade levels so that students’ experiences with proof in school have coherence. The two principles offer the basis for certain judgments about whether the particular argument in the episode could count as proof. Also, they support more broadly ideas for a possible conceptualization of the notion of proof in the elementary grades.