Challenges to Teaching Authentic Mathematical Proof in School Mathematics

Abstract

As pointed out by Stylianides (2007), a major reason that proof and proving have been given increased attention in recent years is because they are fundamental to doing and knowing mathematics and communicating mathematical knowledge. Thus, there has been a call over the last two decades to bring the experiences of students in school mathematics closer to the work of practicing mathematicians. In this paper, I discuss the challenges that a beginning teacher faced as he attempted to teach authentic mathematical proof. More specifically, I argue that his past experiences with proof and the curriculum materials made available to him were obstacles to enacting a practice that was more like what he called “real math.”