Perseverance in mathematical reasoning: the role of children’s conative focus in the productive interplay between cognition and affect

Mathematical reasoning requires perseverance to overcome the cognitive and affective difficulties encountered whilst pursuing a reasoned line of enquiry. The aims of the study were: to understand how children’s perseverance in mathematical reasoning (PiMR) manifests in reasoning activities, and to examine how PiMR can be facilitated through a focus on children’s active goals. The article reports on children aged 10–11 from two English schools, purposively selected for their limited PiMR. Data relating to their cognitive and affective responses and the focus of their attention, a conative component, were collected by observation and interview. The study defines the construct perseverance in mathematical reasoning. Conative characteristics of PiMR were used to analyse the cognitive–affective interplay during reasoning. It revealed the role that children’s active goals play in restricting and enabling PiMR. The article offers new approaches to designing pedagogic interventions and collecting and analysing data relating to perseverance in vivo.