Giving examples and making general statements: 'two odds
always make an even (in maths)'
Proceedings of the sixth British Congress of Mathematics Education held at the University of Warwick, page 65-72. bsrlm, (2005)Abstract
The statement in the title is drawn from an answer given by an 11-year-old to part of a question to which many pupils responded with a general statement. In the second part of the same question children were required to provide examples in a way which implied they understood a generality. We explore answers to both parts of the question as well as comparing the two. Slightly fewer children were able to provide examples than make a general statement. Many children were successful on one part of the question but not the other.