Supporting the development of number fact knowledge in five- and six-year-olds

This paper focuses on children’s number fact knowledge from a study that explored the impact of using multiplication and division contexts for developing number understanding with 34 five- and six-year-old children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. After a series of focused lessons, children’s knowledge of number facts, including single digit addition, subtraction, and doubles had improved. However, they did not always apply this knowledge to relevant problem-solving situations. The magnitude of the numbers did not necessarily determine the difficulty level for achieving automaticity of number fact knowledge

Methods of teaching algebra in the high school with reference to selected topics

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

What counts as numeracy?

The purpose of the study was to infer the Scottish HMI view of what is meant by Numeracy given the concerns that primary children's achievements in Numeracy reflect a lack of flexibility in handling number and an overemphasis on procedures at the expense of understanding (HMI, 1997). Three hundred HMI reports on primary schools in Scotland were randomly selected. Content analysis of the sections on Number, Money and Measurement revealed Numeracy to be conceived of as computational proficiency and as understanding of number. Surprisingly, there were significantly more (p<0.05) references to computational proficiency than there were to understanding of number. The results are discussed in terms of what it means to understand number. It is suggested that there needs to be much clearer delineation of what is required and meant by the idea of understanding number

Abstracts of theses and related literature indicating current trends in arithmetic for the academically talented elementary school child written between 1957 and 1961

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Developing Learning Trajectory For Enhancing Students’ Relational Thinking

Algebra is part of Mathematics learning in Indonesian curriculum. It takes one half of the teaching hours in senior high school, and one third in junior high school. However, the learning trajectory of Algebra needs to be improved because teachers teach computational thinking by applying paper-and-pencil strategy combining with the concepts-operations-example-drilling approach. Mathematics textbooks do not give enough guidance for teachers to conduct good activities in the classroom to promote algebraic thinking especially in the primary schools. To reach Indonesian Mathematics teaching goals, teachers should develop learning trajectories based on pedagogical and theoretical backgrounds. Teachers need to have knowledge of student’s developmental progressions and understanding of mathematics concepts and students’ thinking. Research shows that teachers’ knowledge of student’s mathematical development is related to their students’ achievement. In fostering a greater emphasis on algebraic thinking, teachers and textbooks need to work more closely together to develop a clearer learning trajectory. Having this algebraic thinking, students developed not only their own character of learning and thinking but also their attitude, attention and discipline. Key Words: Learning Trajectory, Relational Thinkin

Mental calculation : its place in the development of numeracy

The current concerns about the standards of numeracy in primary schools, as these are manifest in different official reports (HMI, 1997; DfEE, 1998), have given a revised emphasis to mental calculation. While not completely discounting the wider aspects of mathematical achievement, the topics of space and shape, data handling and measurement are being de-emphasised (Brown et al, 2000) and mental calculation is being emphasised, with there being daily opportunities for children to develop efficient and flexible mental methods of calculating (QCA, 1999; Wilson, 1999). However, the term, mental calculation is not clearly defined (Harries and Spooner, 2000) and without conceptual clarity it may be very difficult for us to recognise, let alone understand, what pedagogical practices are needed to support the objective of increased emphasis on mental calculation. What follows is some consideration of what is meant by the term mental calculation and what this meaning implies for practice

Evidence-Based Practices for Tiered Math Interventions for Elementary Students

Abstract is not required for a Starred Paper