Difficulties in the construction of natural numbers including zero with 6-8 year-old students

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify the learning difficulties that children from 1st to 3rd grade of primary education have in the construction of natural numbers. Such difficulties do not come from teaching, but from mathematics themselves; in order to observe these difficulties, it is necessary to reduce the problem to the basics. Through Local Theoretical Models, as a theoretical and methodological framework, a Teaching Model has been designed by translating the formal component (J. Von Neumann Model) into a sequence of activities, with the use of manipulative material. We analyze the teaching experience and results highlight and explain the children’s difficulties in these activities.

Keywords

• modelos teóricos locales
• números naturales en von neumann
• modelo de enseñanza
• dificultades de aprendizaje
• educación primaria