“Equal can be unequal sometimes”

This paper aims to analyse and discuss grade 2 students’ conceptions about working with sharing. The students worked with cases in an education that differed from their regular mathematics classes, working silently with a textbook at their desks. When working with the cases, they worked in pairs, were encouraged to discuss, and then got to present their solutions in front of the whole class. The cases were problems that could have several valid solutions and answers. We interviewed 25 students, ages 8–9 years, and data was analysed using thematic analysis generating five themes. The first theme was about the importance of making sharing fair and that the cases were realistic. The second theme was about solutions being valid. The third theme covered conceptions about the cases as context or as concrete materials versus working in a textbook, which was connected to the fourth theme: discussing and thinking versus being quiet. The fifth theme was about working at your desk versus the whiteboard. The results signal that open problems can alter students’ conceptions about mathematics and challenges when creating spaces for such teaching.