It would be pertinent for a proportion of the mathematics education community to
focus on the learning of those students in elementary mathematics who might develop
the potential for advanced mathematical thinking, to analyse whether their learning
environment is suitable for their long-term development. Short-term it would be possible
to consider the ways in which the “more successful” do mathematics, to see if they need
a different environment from others. Perhaps some of the educational devices for
introducing mathematics in an elementary way, such as physical balances to introduce
equations, introduce cognitive baggage which is not in the long-term helpful for
cognitive compression.