Teaching Algebraic Expressions to Young Students: The Three‐day Journey of “a+ 2”

This classroom scholarship report is based on the teaching experience using Davydov's mathematics curriculum, which was developed in the former Soviet Union. While “from arithmetic to algebra” is the normally accepted instructional sequence in school mathematics, Davydov's curriculum is laid out “from algebra to arithmetic,” focusing on algebraic thinking from the very beginning of the elementary grades. The purpose of this report is not to provide a definitive conclusion about which curriculum or sequence is better nor to address which instructional strategy is right in all circumstances. Rather, it is to explore how primary grade students develop their own conceptual understanding while confronting difficulties met within a specific context. This report provides actual classroom episodes from working with a group of first graders and describes dynamic interactions between the teacher and children while they discuss the use of algebraic expressions and understand the meaning behind them.