Relational Understanding and Instrumental Understanding

Author(s): RICHARD R. SKEMP

Source: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Vol. 12, No. 2 (SEPTEMBER 2006), pp. 88-95
Published by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
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 YEARS"/ RICHARD R. SKEMP

MATHEMATICS
TEACHER

I Relational
Understanding
I andInstrumental
I Understanding
^B relational
In thisarticle,theauthordefines and instrumental He thenex-
understanding.
^Ш plainstheimpacthefeelsthesetwodisparategoalshaveon theattitudes
and understanding
^B ofstudents.We the
believe readerwill his
find ideasaboutthe and
teaching learning ofmath-
^m ematicsremarkably and
contemporary thought-provoking.

H FauxAmis inginAmericafora biscuitwouldbe givenwhatwe

[Englishmen] calla scone.To getwhatwe [English-
H FAUXAMISIS A TERMUSED BY THE FRENCHTO men]calla biscuit,hewouldhavetoaskfora cookie.
^B describewordswhicharethesame,orveryalike,in AndbetweenEnglishas usedinmathematics andin
^B twolanguages,butwhosemeaningsare different. everyday lifethereare suchwordsas field,group,
^B Forexample: ring,ideal.

^B Frenchword MeaninginEnglish ReprintedfromtheDecember1976 issue of Mathematics

^B histoire story,nothistory Teaching,thejournaloftheAssociationofTeachersofMath-
^B libraire bookshop, notlibrary ematics,GreatBritain.All rightsreserved.
Also reprinted
in
^B chef head ofanyorganization,notonly theArithmeticTeacher,November1978, pp. 9-15.
^B chiefcook
^B agrément pleasureoramusement, not A word on the editorialapproach to reprintedarticles:
^B agreement Obvioustypographical errorshave beensilentlycorrected.
^B docteur doctor(higherdegree)notmedi- Additionsto thetextforpurposesofclarificationappear in
^B cal practitioner brackets.No efforthas beenmade to reproducethelayouts
^B médecin notmedicine
medicalpractitioner, or designsoftheoriginalarticles,althoughthesubheadsare
^B parent ingeneral,including
relations thosethatfirstappearedwiththetext.The use ofwordsand
^B parents phrasesnow consideredoutmoded,evenslightly jarringto
modernsensibilities,
has likewisebeenmaintainedin an ef-
^B One getsfauxamisbetweenEnglishas spoken forttogive thereadera better feelfortheera in whichthe
partsoftheworld.AnEnglishman
indifferent ask- - Ed.
articleswerewritten.
^B

^^m 88 mathematicsteaching in the middleschool

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 A personwhois unaware thatthewordheis using offractions
Multiplication To multiply
a fraction
bya H
is г fauxami can makeinconvenient mistakes.We fraction, thetwonumerators
multiply tomake
together H
expecthistory to be true,butnota story. We take thenumeratoroftheproduct,
andthetwodenominators H
bookswithout payingfroma library, butnotfroma tomakesitsdenominator. H
bookshop; andso on.Butintheforegoing examples
therearecueswhichmight putoneonguard:differ- E.g. I
enceoflanguage, orofcountry, orofcontext. 2 2x4 = jJ_ В
If,however, thesamewordis used in thesame f4 =
3° 5~3x5~15 I
language,country andcontext, withtwomeanings
whosedifference is non-trivialbutas basic as the 3 10 30 ^ I
difference betweenthemeaningof (say) 'histoire' 5X13~65~13 ■
and 'story', whichis a difference betweenfactand
fiction,onemayexpectseriousconfusion. signx is generally
Themultiplication usedinstead
ofthe В
Two suchwordscanbe identified inthecontext word'of. В
ofmathematics; and it is thealternative meanings
attached tothesewords,each bya largefollowing, CirclesThecircumference ofa circle(thatis itsperim- H
whichinmybeliefareattherootofmanyofthedif- orthelength
éter, ofitsboundary) is found bymeasure- H
ficultiesinmathematics education to-day. menttobe a little morethanthreetimesthelength of H
Oneoftheseis 'understanding'. Itwasbrought to itsdiameter. In anycirclethecircumference is approxi- H
myattention someyearsago byStiegMellin-Olsen, mately3.1416times thediameter which is roughly 3 1/7 ■
ofBergenUniversity, thatthereare in current use timesthediameter. Neither ofthesefigures is exact,as H
twomeanings ofthisword.These he distinguishes theexactnumber cannotbeexpressed eitheras a fraction H
by callingthem'relational understanding' and 'in- ora decimal. Thenumber is represented bytheGreek H
strumental understanding'. Bytheformer is meant letter
/г(pi). H
whatI have alwaysmeantby understanding, and
probably mostreadersofthisarticle:knowing both = ndor2кг
Circumference Н
whatto do andwhy.Instrumental understanding I =
Area nr2 В
woulduntilrecently nothave regardedas under-
standing atall.Itis whatI haveinthepastdescribed Thereaderisurgedtotryforhimself thisexercise В
as 'ruleswithoutreasons',withoutrealisingthat oflooking forandidentifying examplesofinstrumen- H
formanypupilsand theirteachers the possession talexplanations, bothintextsandintheclassroom. H
ofsucha rule,and ability to use it,was whatthey This willhave threebenefits, (i) For personslike H
meantby'understanding'. thewriter, andmostreadersofthisarticle, itmaybe H
Supposethata teacherremindsa class thatthe hardto realisehowwidespread is theinstrumental H
area ofa rectangle is givenbyA = L x B. A pupil approach,(ii) Itwillhelp,byrepeatedexamples, to H
whohas been awaysayshe does notunderstand, consolidate thetwocontrasting concepts,(iii) It is H
so theteachergiveshiman explanation alongthese a good preparation fortrying to formulate thedif- H
lines."Theformula tellsyouthattogettheareaofa ferenceingeneralterms.Result(i) is necessaryfor H
rectangle, youmultiply thelengthbythebreadth." whatfollows intherestofthepresentsection, while H
"Oh,I see,"saysthechild,andgetsonwiththeex- (ii) and (iii)willbe usefulfortheothers. H
ercise.Ifwewerenowtosaytohim(ineffect) "You Ifitis acceptedthatthesetwocategories areboth H
maythinkyou understand, butyou don'treally," well-fitted,bythosepupilsandteachers whosegoals В
he wouldnotagree."OfcourseI do. Look;I'vegot are respectively relational
and instrumental under- H
all theseanswersright." Norwouldhe be pleased standing (bythepupil) ,twoquestions arise.First, does В
at ourde-valuing ofhis achievement. Andwithhis thismatter? Andsecond,is onekindbetter thanthe H
meaning oftheword,he doesunderstand. other? ForyearsI havetakenforgranted theanswers В
We can all thinkofexamplesofthiskind:'bor- to boththesequestions: Tes; relational.'
briefly, But H
rowing' insubtraction, 'turnitupsidedownandmul- theexistence ofa largebodyofexperienced teachers В
tiply'fordivision by a fraction, 'takeit overto the andofa largenumber oftextsbelonging totheoppo- В
othersideandchangethesign',are obviousones; sitecamphas forcedme to thinkmoreaboutwhyI В
butoncetheconcepthas beenformed, otherexam- holdthisview.In theprocessofchanging thejudge- В
ples ofinstrumental explanations can be identified mentfrom anintuitivetoa reflective
one,I think I have В
in abundancein manywidelyused texts.Here are learntsomething useful.The twoquestionsare not H
twofroma textusedbya former direct-grant gram- entirelyseparate, butinthepresent section I shallcon- H
marschool,nowindependent, witha highacademic centrate as faras possibleonthefirstdoesitmatter? В
standard. The problemhereis thatofa mismatch, which В

VOL. 12, NO. 2 • SEPTEMBER 2006 89 H

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 arisesautomaticallyin myfauxami situation, and The replywas:"300squarecentimetres". He asked:
does not dependon whetherA or B's meaning "Why not 300 squareyards?" Answer: "Because area
is ťtherightone'. Let us imagine,ifwe can, that is alwaysinsquarecentimetres."
schoolA sendsa teamto playschoolВ at a game To prevent errorsliketheabovethepupilsneed
called'football',
butthatneitherteamknowsthat anotherrule (or,ofcourse,relational understand-
thereare twokinds(called'association'and 'rug- ing), that both dimensions must be in thesameunit.
by'). SchoolA playssoccerand Thisanticipates one ofthearguments whichI shall
All ãr|£|jrn6flt hasnever heardofrugger, and use againstinstrumental understanding, thatitusu-
■ ■ vice versaforB. Each teamwill ally involves a multiplicity of rules rather thanfewer
ãgâinST rapidly decide that the others principles of more generalapplication.
inçtriiiripntal arecrazy> ora lotoffoul Players- Thereis ofcoursealwaysthechancethata fewof
тыл umeiiuii TeamA inparticular ^и think thepupilswillcatchontowhattheteacheris trying
Understanding that B uses a mis-shapen ball, todo.Ifonlyforthesakeofthese,I thinkhe should
■ ■■ ■ ■■ andcommitone foulafteranoth- go on trying. By many,probably a majority, his at-
■S Mot II er.Unlessthetwosidesstopand tempts to convince them that being able to use the
HCIinlll/ ini/nll/OC talk about what gamethey think rule is not enough will not be well received. Well is
UbUdliy IllVUIVeb are
they playingat,longenough the of
enemy better/ and if can
pupils get right the
Э multiplicity togainsomemutual understand-answersby thekindofthinking theyare used to,
g't ing' the game wil1 break up in they will not take to
kindly suggestions thatthey
ОТ viiIa*
III ICS K^th^K
rainer disorder andthetwoteams will shouldtryforsomething beyond this.
than f AWŠ&I* never want tomeet again. The othermis-match, inwhichpupilsare trying
uidii icwci
Thoughit maybe hardto to understand relationally buttheteachingmakes
Principles Ol imagine such a situation arising this impossible, can be a more damaging one.Anin-
onthefootball field,this is not a stance which in
stays mymemory is thatofa neigh-
aû|lûM|
■ЛОГв generali far-fetched for what
analogy goes bour's child, then seven years old. He was a very
ännliCatinn on *n many mathematics lessons, bright boy,
little with an I.Q. of 140. At the age offive
a""lluaMUI1 evennow.Thereis thisimportant he couldreadTheTimes,butat sevenhe regularly
difference, thatone side at least criedoverhis mathematics homework. His misfor-
cannotrefusetoplay.The encounter is compulsory, tunewas thathe was trying tounderstand relation-
onfivedaysa week,forabout36 weeksa year,over allyteaching which could not be understood inthis
10yearsormoreofa chilďslife. way.My evidence for this belief is that when I taught
Leavingasideforthemoment whether one kind himrelationally myself, withthehelpofUnifix, he
is better
thantheother, therearetwokindsofmath- caughtonquicklyandwithrealpleasure.
ematical mis-matches whichcanoccur. A less obviousmis-match is thatwhichmayoc-
curbetweenteacherandtext.Supposethatwehave
1. Pupilswhosegoalis tounderstand instrumental- a teacherwhoseconception ofunderstanding is in-
ly,taughtby a teacher who wants them to under- strumental, who for one reason or other is usinga
standrelationally. textwhichaim is relational understanding by the
2. The otherwayabout. pupil. It willtake more than this to his
change teach-
ingstyle. I was in a school which was usingmyown
Thefirstofthesewillcausefewer problems short- text1 , and noticed (they were at Chapter1 oíBook1)
termto thepupils,thoughitwillbe frustrating to thatsomeofthepupilswerewriting answerslike
theteacher. The pupilsjust'won'twanttoknow* all
thecareful ground-work he givesinpreparation for 'thesetof{flowers}'.
whatever istobe learntnext,norhiscareful explana-
tions.Alltheywantis somekindofruleforgetting WhenI mentioned thistotheteacher(hewashead
theanswer. As soonas thisis reached,theylatchon ofmathematics) he askedtheclasstopayattention
toitandignoretherest. to himand said:"Someofyouare notwriting your
Iftheteacherasksa questionthatdoes notquite answersproperly. Lookat theexampleinthebook,
fittherule,ofcoursetheywillgetitwrong.Forthe at thebeginning oftheexercise,and be sureyou
followingexample I haveto thank Mr. Peter Burney, write your answers exactly likethat."
atthattimea student atCoventry College of Educa- Much of what is beingtaughtunderthedescrip-
tiononteaching practice. While teaching area he be- tion of 'modern mathematics' is beingtaughtand
camesuspiciousthatthechildren didnotreallyun- learntjust as instrumentally as were the syllabi
derstand whattheyweredoing.So he askedthem: whichhavebeenreplaced.Ibis is predictable from
"Whatis thearea ofa field20 cms by 15 yards?" the difficulty of accommodating (restructuring)

I 90 MATHEMATICSTEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

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our existingschémas2.To the extentthatthisis rulestobe memorised wouldbe so numerous that I
so,theinnovations haveprobably donemoreharm problemslike Writea simpleaccompaniment for I
thangood,byintroducing a mis-match betweenthe thismelody'wouldbe too difficult formost.They I
teacherandtheaimsimplicit inthenewcontent. For wouldgiveup thesubjectas soonas possible,and I
thepurposeofintroducing ideassuchas sets,map- remember itwithdislike. I
pingsandvariablesis thehelpwhich,rightly used, The othergroupis taughtto associatecertain I
theycan giveto relational understanding. Ifpupils soundswiththesemarkson paper.Forthefirst few I
are stillbeingtaughtinstrumentally, thena 'tradi- yearstheseare audiblesounds,whichtheymake I
tional'syllabuswillprobablybenefitthemmore. themselves on simpleinstruments. Aftera timethey I
Theywillat leastacquireproficiency in a number can stillimaginethesoundswhenever theysee or I
ofmathematical techniques whichwillbe ofuse to writethemarkson paper.Associated witheveryse- I
theminothersubjects, andwhoselackhas recently quenceofmarksis a melody, andwitheveryvertical I
been the subjectofcomplaints by teachersofsci- seta harmony. ThekeysС majorandA majorhavean I
ence,employers andothers. audiblerelationship,anda similar relationshipcanbe I
Nearthebeginning I saidthattwofauxamiscould found between certainotherpairsofkeys.Andso on. I
be identifiedinthecontext ofmathematics. The sec- Muchless memory workis involved, andwhathas I
ondoneis evenmoreserious;itis theword'mathe- to be remembered is largelyin theformofrelated I
matics'itself.Forwearenottalking aboutbetter and wholes(suchas melodies)whichtheirmindseas- I
worseteaching ofthesamekindofmathematics. It ilyretain.Exercisessuchas werementioned earlier I
is easyto thinkthis,justas ourimaginary soccer (Writea simpleaccompaniment') wouldbewithin the I
players whodidnotknowthattheiropponents were ofmost.These children
ability wouldalso findtheir I
playing a different gamemightthinkthattheother learningintrinsicallypleasurable, and manywould I
sidepickeduptheballandranwithitbecausethey continue itvoluntarily,
evenafter O-levelorC.S.E. I
couldnotkickproperly, especiallywithsucha mis- For the presentpurposeI have inventedtwo I
shapenball.In whichcase theymightkindlyoffer non-existent kindsof 'musiclesson',bothpencil- I
thema better ballandsomelessonsondribbling. and-paper exercises(in the secondcase, afterthe I
It has takenme sometimeto realisethatthisis first
yearortwo). Butthedifference betweenthese I
notthecase. I used to thinkthatmathsteachers imaginary activities
is no greaterthanthatbetween I
wereall teachingthe same subject,some doingit twoactivitieswhichactually go on underthename I
betterthanothers.I nowbelievethatthereare two ofmathematics. (We can maketheanalogycloser, I
effectivelydifferentsubjectsbeingtaughtunderthe ifwe imaginethatthefirstgroupofchildrenwas I
samename,'mathematics*. Ifthisis true,thenthis taughtsoundsforthenotesina ratherhalf-
initially I
difference matters beyondanyofthedifferences in heartedway,butthattheassociations weretoo ill- I
syllabiwhichareso widelydebated.So I wouldlike formed andun-organised tolast.) I
to tryto emphasisethepointwiththehelpofan- The aboveanalogyis,clearly, heavilybiasedinfa- I
otheranalogy. vourofrelational mathematics. Thisreflects myown I
Imaginethattwogroupsofchildrenare taught viewpoint. To callita viewpoint, I
musicas a pencil-and-paper subject.They are all however,
implies I nolonger| US6u IO thlflR
that I
shownthe five-line stave,withthe curly'treble' regarditas a self-evidenttruthXI*^J. rnothe II
signatthebeginning; andtaughtthatmarksonthe whichrequires no justification:ШЯ1 illälflS
linesare calledE, G, B, D, E Marksbetweenthe whichitcanhardly be ifmany tP3cli6rS W6T6 I
linesare calledF, A, C, E. Theylearnthata line experiencedteacherscontinueto ... . « , I
withan openovalis calleda minim, and is worth teachinstrumentalmathematics. 3ll IGclChllig |П6 I
twowithblacked-in ovalswhichare calledcrotch- Thenextstepis totrytoargue
ets,or fourwithblacked-in ovalsand a tailwhich themeritsofbothpoints ofview C-H1A cilhia^f
WIIIC OUMjCbly II
are calledquavers,and so on- musicalmultiplica- as clearly
andfairlyas possible; SOfTIG ffoiliSf
® I
tiontablesifyoulike.Foronegroupofchildren, all and especiallyof the pointof I
theirlearning is ofthiskindandnothing beyond.If viewoppositetoone'sown.This it Ьб1Т6Г ШсШ I
theyhavea musiclessona day,fivedaysa weekin is whythenextsection is called AfLÛPC I
schoolterms, andaretoldthatitis important, these Devil's
Advocate.Inonewaythis ОХПвГ S I
children couldin timeprobably learnto writeout onlydescribesthatpartwhich I
the marksforsimplemelodiessuch as God Save putsthecase forinstrumental Butit
understanding. I
theQueenandAuldLangSyne,andto solvesimple alsojustifies
theotherpart,sincean imaginaryop- I
problemssuchas 'Whattimeis thisin?'andWhat ponentwhothinks fromoneself
differently is a good I
key?',andevenTransposethismelodyfromС ma- deviceformakingclearerto oneselfwhyone does I
jor toA major'.Theywouldfinditboring,and the thinkthatway. I

VOL. 12, NO. 2 • SEPTEMBER 2006 91 I

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H Devil's
Advocate werebefore.This is a handymethodifyouknow
whyitworks.Throughnofaultofhisown,thischild
H GIVENTHATSO MANYTEACHERS TEACHINSTRU- didnot;andnotunreasonably, applieditalsotodivi-
^m mentalmathematics, might this be because it does sion of decimals. By thismethod 4.8 + 0.6 cameto
^H havecertain advantages? I have been able to think of 0.08. The same pupil hadalso learnt thatifyouknow
^Ш threeadvantages (as distinct from situational reasons two angles ofa triangle,you can find thethirdby
^m forteaching thisway,whichwillbe discussedlater). adding the two and
givenanglestogether subtract-
ing from 180°. He gottenquestionsrightthisway
^m 1.Within itsowncontext, instrumental mathematics (histeacherbelievedinplenty ofpractice) ,andwent
^m is usually easiertounderstand; sometimes mucheas- on to use thesamemethodforfinding theexterior
^Ш ier.Sometopics,suchas multiplying twonegative angles.So he gotthenextfiveanswerswrong.
^m numbers or
together, dividing by a fractional num- I do notthinkhe was beingstupidin eitherof
^Ш ber, are difficult to understand relationally. 'Minus these cases. He was simply extrapolating from what
^Ш timesminusequalsplus'and'todividebya fraction he alreadyknew.But relational understanding, by
^Ш youturnitupsidedownandmultiply' are easilyre- knowingnot onlywhatmethodworkedbutwhy,
^M membered rules.Ifwhatis wantedis a pageofright wouldhaveenabledhimtorelatethemethodtothe
^m answers, instrumental mathematics canprovide this problem, and possiblyto adaptthemethodto new
^Ш morequickly andeasily. problems. Instrumental understanding necessitates
memorising which problems a method worksfor
^m 2. So therewards are moreimmediate, and moreap- andwhichnot,andalsolearning a different method
^m parent. It is niceto a of
get page rightanswers, and for each new class ofproblems. So the firstadvan-
^Ш we mustnotunder-rate theimportance ofthefeel- tageofrelational mathematics leadsto:
^Ш ingofsuccesswhichpupilsgetfromthis.Recently
^m I visiteda schoolwheresome ofthe childrende- 2. It is easiertoremember. Thereis a seemingpara-
^M scribethemselves as 'thickos'.Theirteachersuse dox here,in thatit is certainly harderto learn.It
^m iif-Bi ■ ■■ ^e term to°- These children is certainly easier forpupils to learn that'areaofa
H Wlthlfl IIS OWfl need success to restore their =
triangle 1/2 base x height' than to learn whythis
^m Miitûvl1 self-confidence, and it can be is so. But they then have to learn separaterulesfor
^m СОШбХЦ argued that they can achieve triangles,rectangles,parallelograms, trapeziums;
^B ¡ItSttUitlQlitSËl ^*s moreQuickly and easilyin whereasrelational understanding consistspartly in
^B m m instrumental mathematics than seeingall ofthesein relationto thearea ofa rect-
■ mathematics is mrelational. angle.Itis stilldesirabletoknowtheseparaterules;
one does notwantto have to derivethemafresh
H USUãliy Basiez 3. just because less knowledgeeverytime. But knowingalso how theyare inter-
^B fQ ffff|f gfcf ¿Iffff' " iS involved, one can often get the related enables one to remember themas partsof
^B ш right answer more quickly and a connected whole, which is easier. Thereis more
^m SOnietinieS reliably byinstrumental think- to learn- the connectionsas wellas theseparate
IH mil^h ingthanrelational Ш* differ- rules- buttheresult,oncelearnt,is morelasting.
Ш11Ы1 oaciorCaolCl enee is so markedthat even So thereis less re-learning todo,andlong-term the
^B relational mathematicians often timetakenmaywellbe less altogether.
^B use instrumental thinking. This is a pointofmuch Teachingforrelational understanding mayalso
^B theoretical interest, which I hope to discuss more involve moreactualcontent. Earlier,an instrumen-
^B fully ona future occasion. talexplanation was quotedleadingtothestatement
'Circumference = nď. Forrelational understanding
^B The abovemaywellnotdo fulljusticeto instru- ofthis,theidea ofa proportion wouldhaveto be
^B mentalmathematics. I shallbe gladto knowofany taughtfirst(amongothers),andthiswouldmakeit
^B further advantages which itmay have. a muchlongerjob thansimply teaching therulesas
^B Therearefouradvantages(atleast)inrelational given.Butproportionality has sucha widerangeof
^B mathematics. otherapplications thatitis worthteachingonthese
grounds also. In relationalmathematics thishap-
^B 1. It is moreadaptabletonewtasks.Recently I was pensratheroften. Ideas requiredforunderstanding
^B trying tohelpa boywhohadlearnttomultiply two a particular topičturnout to be basic forunder-
^B decimalfractions together bydropping the decimal standing manyothertopicstoo.Sets,mappings and
^B point,multiplying as forwholenumbers,and re- equivalenceare suchideas.Unfortunately theben-
^B inserting the decimalpointto givethe same total efitswhichmightcomefromteachingthemare of-
^B numberof digitsafterthe decimalpointas there tenlostbyteachingthemas separatetopics,rather

92 MATHEMATICS TEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

^B

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 conceptsbywhichwholeareas
thanas fundamental situation.To makean informed choiceofthiskind I
canbe inter-related.
ofmathematics impliesawarenessofthedistinction, and relational I
understanding ofthemathematics itself.
So nothing I
3. Relationalknowledge can be effective as a goal else butrelational understanding can everbe ade- I
in itselfThisis an empiric fact,based on evidence quatefora teacher.Onehas tofacethefactthatthis I
fromcontrolled experiments usingnon-mathemati- is absentinmanywhoteachmathematics; perhaps
calmaterial. Theneedforexternal rewardsandpun- evena majority.
ishments is greatly reduced,makingwhatis often Situationalfactorswhichcontribute to the diffi-
calledthe'motivational' sideofa teacher's job much cultyinclude:
easier.Thisis relatedto:
1. Thebackwash effectofexaminations. Inviewofthe
4. Relational schémasare organicin quality. Thisis importance ofexaminations forfuture employment,
thebestwayI havebeenabletoformulate a quality one can hardlyblamepupilsifsuccessin theseis
bywhichtheyseemto actas an agentoftheirown one oftheirmajoraims.The waypupilsworkcan-
growth. The connection with3 is thatifpeopleget notbutbe influenced bythegoalforwhichtheyare
satisfaction from relational understanding, theymay working, whichis to answercorrectly a sufficient
notonlytrytounderstand relationally newmaterial numberofquestions.
whichis putbeforethem,butalso actively seekout
newmaterial andexplorenewareas,verymuchlike 2. Over-burdened syllabi.Partofthetroublehereis
a treeextending itsrootsor an animalexploring a thehighconcentration ofthein-
newterritory insearchofnourishment. To develop formation content ofmathemat- RclatlOfldl
thisidea beyondthelevelofan analogyis beyond ics. A mathematical statement ■ . .
thescopeofthepresentpaper,butitis tooimpor- may condense into a single KllOWlGU§G Cclfl
tanttoleaveout. lineas muchas in anothersub- Up "pff ppfiyp
^ ■*****"**
jectmighttakeoverone or two
Iftheaboveis anything likea fairpresentation paragraphs. By mathematicians35 3 SOcll
ofthecases forthetwosides,itwouldappearthat accustomedto handlingsuch ■ .. ■#
whilea case might existforinstrumental mathemat- concentrated ideas,thisis often 111 ItSGIT
ics short-term and withina limitedcontext, long- overlooked(whichmaybe why
termandinthecontext ofa child'swholeeducation mostmathematics lecturers go toofast). Non-math-
itdoesnot.So whyareso manychildren taught only ematicians do notrealiseitat all.Whatever therea-
instrumental mathematics throughout theirschool son,almostallsyllabiwouldbe muchbetterifmuch
careers?Unlesswe can answerthis,thereis little reducedin amountso thattherewouldbe timeto
hopeofimproving thesituation. teachthembetter.
An individual teachermightmake a reasoned
choiceto teachforinstrumental understanding on 3. Difficultyofassessment ofwhethera personun-
oneormoreofthefollowing grounds. derstandsrelationally or instrumentally. Fromthe
markshe makeson paper,itis veryhardto make
1. That relationalunderstanding would take too validinference aboutthementalprocessesbywhich
long to achieve, and to be able to use a particu- a pupilhas been led to makethem;hencethedif-
lartechnique is all thatthesepupilsare likelyto ficulty of sound examiningin mathematics. In a
need. teachingsituation, talkingwiththepupilis almost
2. Thatrelational understanding ofa particular top- certainly thebestwayto findout;butin a class of
ic is too difficult, butthepupilsstillneed it for over30,itmaybe difficult tofindthetime.
examination reasons.
3. Thata skillis neededforuse in anothersubject 4. Thegreatpsychological forteachersof
difficulty
(e.g. science) before it can be understood rela- accommodating their
(re-structuring) existing and
tionally with the schémas presently availableto longstanding schémas, even for the minority who
thepupils. knowtheyneed to,wantto do so, and have time
4. Thathe is a juniorteacherin a schoolwhereall forstudy.
theothermathematics teaching is instrumental. Froma recentarticle3discussingthe practical,
intellectualandcultural valueofa mathematics edu-
Alloftheseimply, as doesthephrase'makea rea- cation(andI havenodoubtthathe meansrelational
sonedchoice',thathe is abletoconsider thealterna- mathematics!) bySirHermannBondi,I takethese
tivegoalsofinstrumental andrelational understand- threeparagraphs.(In the original,theyare not
ingon theirmeritsand in relationto a particular consecutive.)

VOL. 12, NO. 2 • SEPTEMBER 2006 93

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 So farmyglowing tributeto mathematics has leftout inthecourseoftwoparallelresearchprojects; and
a vitalpoint:therejection
ofmathematics byso many, ainsightcame,quitesuddenly, duringa recentcon-
rejectionthatinnota fewcases turnstoabjectfright. ference. Onceseenitappearsquitesimple, andone
The negativeattitude to mathematics, unhappily so wonderswhyI didnotthinkofitbefore.Butthere
common, evenamongotherwise highly-educatedpeople, are twokindsofsimplicity: thatofnaivity; andthat
is surelythegreatestmeasureofourfailureand a real which,bypenetrating beyondsuperficial differenc-
dangertooursociety. es, bringssimplicity by unifying. It is the second
Thisis perhapstheclearestindication thatsomething kindwhicha good theoryhas to offer, andthisis
is wrong, andindeedverywrong, withthesituation.It ishardertoachieve.
nothardtoblameeducation foratleasta shareofthere- A concreteexampleis necessaryto beginwith.
itis harderto pinpoint
sponsibility; theblame,andeven WhenI wentto stayin a certaintownforthefirst
moredifficult tosuggestnewremedies. time,I quicklylearntseveralparticular routes.I
learntto getbetweenwhereI was staying andthe
Кfor'blame'we maysubstitute 'cause',therecan officeofthe colleaguewithwhomI was working;
be smalldoubtthatthewidespread failureto teach betweenwhereI was staying andtheuniversity re-
relational mathematics - a failuretobe foundinpri- fectory whereI ate;betweenmyfriend's office and
mary, secondary andfurther education, andin'mod- the refectory; and twoor threeothers.In brief,I
ern'as wellas 'traditional' courses- can be identi- learnta limitednumberoffixedplansbywhichI
fiedas a majorcause.To suggestnewremediesis couldgetfromparticular starting locationsto par-
indeeddifficult, butitmaybe hopedthatdiagnosis ticulargoallocations.
is onegoodsteptowards a cure.Another stepwillbe Assoonas I hadsomefreetime,I begantoexplore
offered inthenextsection. thetown.NowI wasnotwanting togetanywhere spe-
cific,buttolearnmywayaround, andintheprocess
ATheoretical Formulation tosee whatI might comeuponthatwasofinterest. At
thisstagemygoalwasa different one:toconstruct in
THERE IS NOTHINGSO POWERFULFOR DIRECT- myminda cognitive mapofthetown.
ing one's actionsin a complexsituation, and for Thesetwoactivities arequitedifferent. Neverthe-
co-ordinating one's ownefforts withthoseofoth- less theyare,to an outsideobserver, difficult to dis-
ers,as a good theory. All good teachersbuildup tinguish. Anyoneseeingmewalkfrom A toВ would
theirownstoresofempirical knowledge, andhave havegreatdifficulty inknowing (without askingme)
abstractedfromthese some general principles whichofthetwoI was engagedin.Butthemostim-
on whichtheyrelyforguidance.But whiletheir portant thingaboutan activity is itsgoal.In onecase
knowledge remainsinthisformitis largelystillat mygoalwastogettoB,whichis a physical location.
theintuitive levelwithin individuals, andcannotbe Intheotheritwastoenlargeorconsolidate mymen-
communicated, bothforthisreasonand because talmapofthetown, whichis a stateofknowledge.
thereis no sharedconceptual A personwitha setoffixedplanscanfindhisway
_- . structure(schema) in terms froma certainsetofstarting pointsto a certainset
I П6Г6 IS ofwhichit can be formulated. ofgoals.The characteristic ofa planis thatittells
rtnthincy O'l ^л Were this possible,individual himwhatto do at each choicepoint:turnrightout
■■Wiilllllg efforts couldbe integrated into ofthedoor,go straight on pastthechurch,and so
a unified body
POWGrflil for whichwould be availablefor of knowledge on. But ifatany stage he makesa mistake, hewillbe
■■ ■■ у lost;and he willstay lost ifhe is not able to retrace
ClireCtlfl^ 0П6 S use by new-comers to the pro- his steps and get back on the right path.
¿IPtinnC ¡n fessi°n- Atpresent mostteach- In contrast, a personwitha mentalmap ofthe
dVrUUIIo III Я €1 ershavetolearnfrom theirown townhas something fromwhichhe can produce,
COmpleX mistakes whenneeded,an almostinfinite numberofplans
■_ _ . Forsometimemyowncom- bywhichhe can guidehis stepsfromanystarting
SltUdtlOfl âS 3 prehension ofthedifference be- pointtoanyfinishing point,provided onlythatboth
ffoodthftorv ^ееп the^° kinds
II I CUI Jr whichlead respectively
of learning canbe imaginedon hismentalmap.Andifhe does
gUUU to rela- takea wrongturn, hewillstillknowwherehe is,and
tionaland instrumental mathe- thereby be able to correcthis mistakewithout get-
maticsremained attheintuitive level,thoughI was tinglost;evenperhapstolearnfromit.
personally convinced thatthedifference was oneof The analogybetweentheforgoing andthelearn-
greatimportance, andthisviewwassharedbymost ing ofmathematics is close.The kindoflearning
ofthosewithwhomI discussedit.Awarenessofthe whichleads to instrumental mathematics consists
needforan explicitformulation was forcedon me of the learningof an increasingnumberof fixed

94 MATHEMATICSTEACHING IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

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plans,bywhichpupilscan findtheirwayfrompar- 'mathematics'
is formanychildrenindeeda false I
ticularstarting points(thedata)to requiredfinish- as theyfindtotheircost.
friend, ■
ingpoints(theanswerstothequestions).The plan
tellsthemwhatto do at each choicepoint.Andas TheStateofPlay I
intheconcreteexample,whathas tobedonenextis
determined purely bythelocalsituation.(Whenyou THISIS ALREADY A LONGARTICLE, YETIT LEAVES
see thepostoffice, turnleft.Whenyouhavecleared manypointsawaiting furtherdevelopment. The ap-
brackets, collectliketerms.)Thereis no awareness plications ofthetheoretical
formulation in thelast
oftheoverallrelationship betweensuccessivestag- sectiontotheeducational problems describedinthe
es, andthefinalgoal.Andinbothcases,thelearner firsttwohavenotbeenspeltout.One oftheseis the
is dependent on outsideguidanceforlearning each relationship betweenthegoals oftheteacherand
new'waytogetthere'. thoseofthepupil.Another is theimplicationsfora
In contrast,
learning relational
mathematics con- mathematical curriculum.
sistsofbuilding up a conceptualstructure (schema) In the courseofdiscussionoftheseideas with
fromwhichitspossessorcan (inprinciple) produce teachersandlecturers inmathematical education,a
an unlimited numberofplansforgetting fromany number ofotherinterestingpointshavebeenraised
starting within
point hisschematoanyfinishing point. whichalso cannotbe exploredfurther here.One of
(I say'inprinciple*
becauseofcoursesomeofthese theseis whether theterm'mathematics' oughtnot
pathswillbe muchharder toconstructthanothers.) be usedforrelationalmathemat-
Thiskindoflearning is different
in severalways ics only.I havemuchsympathyħ OUT
from instrumental learning. withthisview,butthe issue is -
notas simpleas itmayappear. SCflCITIciS
1. The meansbecomeindependent of particular There is also research in prii драча q|'
endstobe reachedthereby. progress. A pilotstudyaimedat ei ■lcl ■oC* ^U
2. Buildingup a schemawithina givenarea of a method
developing (ormeth-0Щ" ¿IWdreiieSS
knowledgebecomes an intrinsically satisfying ods) for evaluatingthe qual- - .- ■■■ж,"
goalinitself. ityof children's
mathematicalOf pOSSIUllltieS
3. The morecomplete a pupil'sschema,thegreater thinkinghasbeenfinished,
and ¡^ fh АГаЬм
hisfeeling
ofconfidenceinhisownability tofind has led to a moresubstantiall5> UHSICüy
newwaysof'getting there'withoutoutsidehelp. studyin collaboration
withthe ЙГ|1с1Г£бС1
Ъ
4. Buta schemais nevercomplete. As ourschémas N.F.E.R.as partof the TAMS
so ourawarenessofpossibilities
enlarge, is there- continuation project.A higher
byenlarged.Thustheprocessoften becomesself- degreethesisat WarwickUniversity is nearlyfin-
and (byvirtueof3) self-rewarding.
continuing, ished;and a researchgroupoftheDepartment of
Mathematics at theUniversity ofQuebec in Mon-
Takingagainfora moment theroleofdevil'sad- trealis investigating the problemwithfirstand
vocate,itis fairto ask whether we are indeedtalk- fourth gradechildren. AllthiswillI hopebe report-
ingabouttwosubjects,relational mathematics and ed indue course.
instrumental mathematics, orjusttwowaysofthink- The aimsofthepresentpaperare twofold. First,
ingaboutthesame subjectmatter. Usingthecon- to makeexplicit theproblemat an empiriclevelof
creteanalogy, thetwoprocessesdescribedmight thinking, andthereby tobringtotheforefront ofat-
be regarded as twodifferent
waysofknowing about tentionwhatsomeofus haveknownfora longtime
thesametown;inwhichcase thedistinction made at thebackofourminds.Second,toformulate this
betweenrelational andinstrumental understanding insucha waythatitcanbe relatedtoexisting theo-
wouldbe valid,butnotthatbetweeninstrumental reticalknowledge aboutthemathematical learning
andrelational mathematics. process,and further investigatedat thisleveland
Butwhatconstitutes mathematics is notthesub- withthepowerand generality whichtheoryalone
jectmatter, buta particularkindofknowledge about canprovide.
it.The subjectmatterofrelational and instrumen-
talmathematics maybe thesame:carstravelling at Endnotes
uniform speedsbetweentwotowns,towerswhose
heightsaretobe found, bodiesfallingfreelyunder 1R.R.Skemp: Mathematics (U.LR) I
Understanding
gravity, etc.etc.Butthetwokindsofknowledge are 2Fora fuller
discussion
see R.R.Skemp:ThePsychology ■
of
so different thatI thinkthatthereis a strongcase LearningMathematics (Penguin1972)pp.43-46 ■
forregarding themas differentkindsofmathemat- 3H. Bondi:TheDangersofRejecting Mathematics (Times Щ
ics. If thisdistinctionis accepted,thenthe word HigherEducationSupplement,26.3.76)D I

VOL. 12,NO. 2 • SEPTEMBER2006 95 I

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