ABSTRACT
Introduction Mathematics as a subject has for many years embraced, at least at the level of 'principle', constructivist theory (see Chapter 6, p. 98, for a definition). The National Numeracy Strategy's (1999) emphasis on Mental Maths, and their clear definition of it as a process that involves children building up a network of understanding, further emphasises what has been clear for some time: good teaching of maths involves learners in a process that extends their understanding through making connections between their existing ideas, or more succinctly, by enabling them to construct and extend their framework of concepts and ideas.
