Experiencing Change: The Mathematics of Change in Multiple Environments

In the SimCalc project and in the Mathematics of Change group at TERC, we are investigating how students from elementary through high school learn about the mathematics of change in multiple mathematical environments. As part of this research, we studied 5th-grade students doing mathematics-of-change activities from the Investigations curriculum (Russell, Tierney, Mokros, & Economopoulos, 1998) in multiple mathematical environments. This experience has led us to question the view that students connect experiences in different environments by recognizing a core mathematical structure that is corm-non to all environments. We propose an alternative perspective on learning, in which students make mathematical environments into lived-in spaces for themselves and connect environments through the development of family resemblances across their experiences.