Justifying a calculation technique in years 3 and 6

Abstract

International audienceIn this progress report, we present the outline and the first results of a research project which aims to study the argumentative capacity of year 3 (age 8) to year 6 (age 11) students, in a numerical context involving natural and decimal numbers. This project centers on a technique for dividing natural numbers by two, a technique which appears in Al-Khwarizmi’s Kitāb al-ḥisāb al-Hind