An approach to the design of mathematical task sequences: Conceptual learning as abstraction

This paper describes an emerging approach to the design of task sequences and the theory that undergirds it. The approach aims at promoting particular mathematical concepts, understood as the result of reflective abstraction. Central to this approach is the identification of available student activities from which students can abstract the intended ideas. The approach differs from approaches in which learning to solve the problem posed is the intended learning. The paper illustrates the approach through data from a teaching experiment on division of fractions.