Induction in school mathematics

Abstract

The main goal of the third generation national curriculum is for the student to construct knowledge by himself. In this regard, it is very important for the teacher not to give the student a ready-made formula, rule, explanation. The student should be able to come to a new statement, to a general conclusion, based onspecific examples. In this creative process, this way does not coincide with the train of thought by which the mathematician proves the proposition already found. Logic cannot discover anything new. Thus, by means of logic, we can substantiate the “already discovered” statement. The method  of induction allows us to discover new properties based on specific examples and establish connections between issues.