MAKING LINKS BETWEEN ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRAIC THINKING

In the Purposeful Algebraic Activity project we have designed and implemented a series of six spreadsheet based tasks for year 7 pupils aimed at developing early algebraic competence. Our data collection and analysis have been designed to collect evidence about specific features of both the spreadsheet environment and of task design, which influence the ways in which pupils engage with the notion of variable. In this paper we present a case study of one pair of pupils using data from the teaching programme and interviews. We use this case study to identify elements of the task design which have influenced the development of the pupils' thinking.