Functional thinking in first-year primary teacher students: An exploratory study

This work is developed within a wider investigation about Spanish elementary students 'functional thinking. We present part of the results of an exploratory study developed with students of year 1 (six -seven years old). We show the representation systems and strategies used by the students when solving a task which involves the functional relationship f(x)=5x. The results evidence a variety of strategies used by the students that includes the identification of different functional relationships (adequate or not to the task) and the used of distinct representation systems, with predominance of the pictorial one.