It is a bunch of procedures. That’s how people perceive algorithms are. And they are right. Algorithm has been defined as 1) “step-by-step procedures that are carried out routinely”; 2) “a precisely-defined sequence of rules telling how to produce specified output information from given input information in a finite number of steps”. It is no wonder then that teaching algorithms is perceived by many as teaching for rote learning and produces not conceptual knowledge but procedural knowledge. Continue reading “Ideas and strategies for teaching math algorithms”