Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge in Mathematics: An Introductory Analysis

Conceptual and procedural knowledge of mathematics represents a distinction that has received a great deal of discussion and debate through the years. Questions of how students learn mathematics, and especially how they should be taught, turn on speculations about which type of knowledge is more important or what might be an appropriate balance between them. Additionally, discussions of conceptual and procedural knowledge extend beyond the boundaries of mathematics education. The distinction between concepts and procedures plays an important role in more general questions of knowledge acquisition. In some theories of learning and development, the distinction occupies center stage. Although the types of…