“I’m like the Sherpa guide”: On Learning to Teach Proof in School Mathematics

Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education
Abstract
This article describes the experiences of a beginning mathematics teacher, Matt, across his first three years of teaching proof in a high school geometry course. Matt’s past experiences with mathematics influenced his beliefs about what he could and could not do to help his students learn how to prove. During his first year of teaching proof, Matt claimed that you cannot teach someone to write a proof. Over time, however, Matt eventually developed some strategies for teaching proof to his students. Within this work is an interest in learning more about how a teacher learns to teach proof to students who are just learning how to construct a formal proof. This case highlights the importance of pedagogical content knowledge.
Description
Keywords
Mathematics teaching, Formal proof
Citation
Cirillo, M. (2011). “I’m like the Sherpa guide”: On learning to teach proof in school mathematics. In Ubuz, B. (Ed.) Proceedings of the 35th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Vol. 2, pp. 2-241-2-248. Ankara, Turkey: PME.