…And stop belaboring the concept of the equals sign

My long-time math crony Barry Garelick has recently alerted me to claims about how students don’t understand the “equals” sign and therefore require lessons on the underlying concept of mathematical equality.

(These claims are based on studies that potentially confuse conceptual understanding of the equals sign with the ability to do basic arithmetic or involve additional confounds like the effects of tutoring.)

The notion that teachers should be devoting class time to conceptual understanding of the equals sign reminds me of this old post from Out in Left Field.

Stop belaboring the concepts: the limits of “conceptual understanding”