Under the new "Common Core" standards for mathematics in the US, there's a lot more emphasis on proof in elementary-school mathematics than there was before. T

Under the new "Common Core" standards for mathematics in the US, there's a lot more emphasis on proof in elementary-school mathematics than there was before. The terminology is usually more along the lines of "explain your reasoning", but the process is definitely proof-oriented. (Whether teachers will be able to incorporate those standards into their teaching, and whether students can live up to them, remains to be seen.) Disclosure: I'm a full-time tutor for third and fourth grade mathematics in the inner city through the Denver Math Fellows program ( http://www.teachindenver.com/teachindenver/denver-fellows-program.html http://www.teachindenver.com/teachindenver/denver-fellows-pr... ).