ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on understanding the teaching and learning of division from a constructivist perspective. It talks about constructivism, which is provided first to set the stage for understanding the rationale underlying the move toward the use of a constructivist approach for teaching mathematics. The chapter examines division as a complex mathematical procedure that requires understanding of all of the other mathematical operations. It explores the cognitive processes that underlie the division. Learning the traditional division algorithm is a challenge for many children, but it often is an insurmountable task for students with Learning Disabilities (LD). If students with LD are taught the necessary mathematical concepts and skills as well as the social-interpersonal behaviors important for success in a reform-based constructivist mathematics classroom, they should have a greater chance of being exposed to higher level thinking and learning more in a stimulating mathematical environment.
