Reasoning and Sense Making in the Mathematics Classroom: Pre-K – Grade 2

Based on extensive research conducted by the authors, Reasoning and Sense Making in the Mathematics Classroom, Pre-K–Grade 2, is designed to help classroom teachers understand, monitor, and guide the development of students’ reasoning and sense making about core ideas in elementary school mathematics. It describes and illustrates the nature of these skills using classroom vignettes and actual student work in conjunction with instructional tasks and learning progressions to show how reasoning and sense making develop and how instruction can support students in that development.

Students who can make sense of mathematical ideas can apply those ideas in problem solving, even in unfamiliar situations, and can use them as a foundation for future learning. Without them, students are reduced to rote learning, often experiencing frustration and failure. But what do reasoning and sense making during learning and teaching look like?

Each chapter of Reasoning and Sense Making in the Mathematics Classroom, Pre-K–Grade 2 explores a different topic that young children encounter in mathematics, demonstrating with actual student work and classroom dialogue how their mathematical knowledge and reasoning ability move through “levels of sophistication” or learning progressions:

• After opening with a discussion of the nature of reasoning and sense making and their critical importance in developing mathematical thinking, chapter 1 examines how young students attempt to make sense of the concepts of place value and length measurement.
• Chapter 2 focuses on how early childhood instruction can engage students in mathematical reasoning while helping them construct a rich sense of number and operations.
• Chapter 3 identifies core algebraic ideas and shows how students can engage with these ideas in ways that not only deepen their understanding of arithmetic but also lays the foundation for the future study of algebra.
• Children’s reasoning and sense making as they decompose and compose geometric shapes―including reasoning about area―is examined in chapter 4. The use of learning progressions to understand students’ reasoning and to guide their sense making with appropriate teaching is also discussed.

Not just a theoretical discussion, the book also provides specific suggestions for related instructional activities for each topic. Supplementary online resources can be accessed at NCTM’s More4U website. Reasoning and Sense Making in the Mathematics Classroom, Pre-K–Grade 2 will be a valuable and practical addition to your professional library.