EVERYDAY COMMON-SENSE AND SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

In recent years, proposals have been made to build mathematics teachin g more closely on childrens; informal knowledge, i.e. on concepts and strategies formed in natural, everyday settings. The article focuses o n questions concerning this trend, more specifically on issues concern ing how and in what sense children benefit from everyday common sense knowledge when they learn mathematics at school. Three empirical examp les, collected within a field-based research project at the intermedia te level of compulsory school, are presented. The examples show that c hildren, when using their everyday life experience, sometimes fail to make mathematical sense of a given task. Two factors which complicate the creation of links between common sense and mathematics are discuss ed: one that deals with the problem of using everyday life experience as a basis for abstracting mathematical ideas, and one which concerns the pupil's abilities to interpret an assigned task in a mathematicall y relevant way.