Li & Cao (2026) — Authors. Unknown institution. 📄 Full text (arXiv)
Introduces a novel core concept, "Awareness of Technological Isomorphism," defined as a student's metacognitive realization that their own mathematical cognitive operations (observing trends, inducing patterns, making predictions) share an underlying logical structure with AI technical operations (pattern recognition, predictive modeling). This awareness facilitates cognitive transfer from disciplinary mathematics to AI comprehension.
The paper proposes a three-stage pedagogical pathway — Perception → Comprehension → Creation — validated through a case study on compound line graphs with fifth-grade students in China. This framework bridges elementary mathematics education with AI literacy, offering a replicable model for deep convergence of disciplinary instruction and AI understanding. The concept is distinguished from computational thinking: it focuses on the isomorphic interface between domain knowledge and AI operations rather than programming skills.
Key contribution: Provides a grounded, theory-based framework for helping elementary students see structural parallels between their own reasoning and AI, moving beyond general computational thinking toward metacognitive awareness of structural isomorphism. Empirical validation through a concrete fifth-grade lesson on data trends and prediction.
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