A Cognitive Approach to Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching Methods at the Elementary School

The preliminary experiences of children in learning mathematics are very important. Research shows، the formation of these experiences highly depends on the mathematics curriculum that they are exposed to، and it would determine their progress in future. Considering this، in last decades، cognitive researchers have done several studies on teaching mathematics to young children and they introduced cognitive approach as a defendable approach in mathematics curriculum design and teaching. Considering the role and the importance of this approach in mathematics education، current study was conducted using the meta-analysis of written documents and research findings in cognitive science and mathematics education. In this regard، the required infrastructures for implementing thisapproach in mathematics education at the elementary level have been explained. Finally، based on these findings، the structure of developing mathematics content and teaching methods for the elementary school that suits this approach was introduced.