A Critical Examination of Three Factors in the Decline of Proof |
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| Authors: | Gila Hanna |
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| Institution: | (1) Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Proof seems to have been losing ground in the secondary mathematics curriculum despite its importance in mathematical theory and practice. The present paper critically examines three specific factors that have lent impetus to the decline of proof in the curriculum: a) The idea that proof need be taught only to those students who intend to pursue post-secondary education, b) the view that deductive proof need no longer be taught because heuristic techniques are more useful than proof in developing skills in reasoning and justification, c) the idea that deductive proof might profitably be abandoned in the classroom in favour of a dynamic visual approach to mathematical justification. The paper concludes that proof should be an essential component in mathematics education at all levels and compatible with both heuristic techniques and dynamic visual approaches. |
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| Keywords: | Mathematics mathematical proof heuristics mathematics curriculum justification problem solving exploration intuition deductive reasoning dynamic software |
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