By such interactions children learn to articulate reasons and construct arguments. When a child is exposed to several interactions of this kind, she gradually develops the ability to think mathematically.

How often do you have such interactions with children? This is what the following exercise is about.

E1) Give an example of a good adult-child conversation of the kind mentioned above, aimed at developing the understanding of a concept.

As you know, formal mathematics depends very heavily on the use of symbols and algorithms. How comfortable are primary school children with them?