ABSTRACT
A class of nine-and ten-year-old children was working on fractions of shapes. Two worksheets were given out and the children were asked to look first at the one starting with a rectangle. This caused some confusion as one sheet started with a circle and one with a square. In response to this, the teacher asked, ‘Do you know what a rectangle is?’ He pointed to the sheet in question and one of the children said, ‘But it’s a square’. The teacher looked again at the sheet, admitted that it was a square and apologised for calling it a rectangle. As the teacher started to explain the sheet, one of the children sighed slightly and said in a whisper, ‘Well, anyway, it is a rectangle’.
