The Development of a Framework to Assess Mathematical Thinking of Stage One Pupils

For meaningful learning to take place, it depends on, among other things, what dominates learner's attention. What are they attending to and how are they attending to it? For learners to appreciate and understand mathematical topics and to have a meaningful experience of learning mathematics, it is necessary to create opportunities for them to make use of their powers to contact important mathematical structures and to become aware of dimensions and depth of the topic. Stage One pupils in three schools in Penang will be invited to construct relevant mathematical examples meeting specified constraints in various mathematical topics in order to investigate their understanding. This concept paper reports on the design, development and exploitation of a rich framework to assess mathematical thinking of Stage One pupils and for what it means to understand and appreciate a mathematical topic.