Mathematical Reasoning in School Tasks

An earlier study (Lithner 1998) treated the question “what are the main characteristics and background of undergraduate students' difficulties when trying to solve mathematical tasks?” This paper will focus on, and extend, the part of the earlier study that concerns task solving strategies. The results indicate that focusing on what is familiar and remembered at a superficial level is dominant over reasoning based on mathematical properties of the components involved, even when the latter could lead to considerable progress.