• To enable a student to make connections within mathematics
Different approaches to a problem can facilitate connections between different elements of knowledge, thereby creating or strengthening networks of related ideas and enabling students to achieve ‘a coherent, comprehensive, flexible and more abstract knowledge structure’ (Seufert, et al. 2007).
“I did not routinely, except perhaps at A level, make connections between topics and now I am trying to incorporate this into my practice at a much lower level. The sample student work highlighted how traditional my approach was and how I followed quite a linear route of mathematical progression”
(UK teacher during end-of-project interview)
Figure 7 shows an example of sample solutions provided in the FALs that provide students with opportunities to connect and compare different representations.