Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 45 Issue 1, December 2007
13 – 20
Helping Grade 1 Students Understand the Equals Sign: A Difficult but Not Impossible Task
Laurent Theis
Difficulty in developing a proper understanding of the equals sign is a widespread, though often unrecognized, phenomenon among lower-level elementary school students. When I discussed my research on Grade 1 students’ understanding of the equals sign with elementary school teachers, most of them were surprised that the equals sign could pose such difficulty for their students. I encouraged those teachers to ask several of their students about the meaning of the equals sign. The teachers were surprised to find that most students saw the equals sign not as an indicator of a relationship but, rather, as an indication to perform an operation or write an answer.
