Resumen

As emphasis on mathematical reasoning—defined as making and justifying conjectures —grows internationally, the need for studying classroom practices that balance the support of reasoning and discourse is also growing. This qualitative study reports teaching practices that supported students’ mathematical reasoning during a teaching experiment in a rural fifth grade classroom. Particularly, it focuses on the teacher’s reasoning and observed practices when planning, facilitating small group and whole class discussions, and the mathematical reasoning co-constructed within such practices. Connecting verbal and symbolic generalizations, recursive and explicit generalizations, and purposefully sequencing responses and tasks in terms of sophistication and understandability are some of the discursive practices that emerged from the data as supports of mathematical reasoning. Audio and video recordings of classroom activities, teacher’s reflections, and observation notes were data sources. Implications for research and practice are discussed.