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

Developing young children's understanding of place-value using multiplication and quotitive division

This paper focuses on selected findings from a study that explored the use of multiplication and division with 34 five- and six-year-old children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The focus of instructional tasks was on working with groups of ten to support the understanding of place value. Findings from relevant assessment tasks and children’s work highlighted the importance of encouraging young children to move from unitary (counting by ones) to tens-structured thinking

Using multiplication and division contexts to build place-value understanding

The paper describes a study with five-year-old children to explore how multiplication and division problems helped them to develop early place-value understanding. Two teachers taught a series of focussed lessons over two four-week periods. The children solved problems using familiar materials grouped in twos, fives and tens. By the end of the instructional period, virtually all children knew that two fives make ten; the majority could work with tens. Half of them could add tens and ones, fewer partitioned tens, and few could work with multi-unit processes. We propose a 5-level framework that describes developmental progressions in children's awareness of groups of five and ten as building blocks for place-value understanding

The mathematical content knowledge and attitudes of New Zealand pre-service primary teachers

This paper presents data on the mathematical content knowledge and attitudes of pre-service primary teacher education students. The assessment consisted of nine tasks, including 2-digit computations and proportional reasoning. Students rated their liking for mathematics at three time points: primary, secondary, .and when assessed. Fewer than half the students liked mathematics, currently. Those with positive attitudes tended to perform well on mathematics tasks, but some low scorers were positive and some high' scorers were negative about mathematics. Most students used algorithmic procedures to solve problems and several consistent misconceptions were identified. Performance was noticeably poor on adding common fractions and converting fractions to percentages using knowledge of common factors. The implications of these findings for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers are presented

Number-fact knowledge and mathematical problem-solving of five-to seven-year olds

This paper examines children's number fact knowledge in relation to mathematics problem solving. These findings are derived from a study that set out to explore the impact on mathematics learning of using multiplication and division contexts with 84 five- to seven-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 improved substantially. However, children did not always apply this knowledge to relevant problem-solving situations. The difficulty level for recalling number facts was not directly related to the magnitude of the numbers, with certain salient facts such as 5+5 and 10+10 learned earlier than facts with smaller sums such as 2+3 and 1+4

Introducing multiplication and division contexts in junior primary classes

This paper shares research from a pilot study in which young children were introduced to multiplication and division problems in their first year of school. The focus was on building children’s conceptual understanding of the idea of “repeated groups” as a fundamental aspect of multiplication and its relation to division. The particular mathematics lessons in this study began with simple word problems involving groups of two, using familiar contexts such as pairs of shoes and socks and progressed to groups of five. Children worked with materials to solve problems, often using addition (and subtraction) as they solved multiplication (and division) problems

Program evaluation of a model to integrate internationally educated health professionals into clinical practice

Background: The demand for health professionals continues to increase, partially due to the aging population and the high proportion of practitioners nearing retirement. The University of British Columbia (UBC) has developed a program to address this demand, by providing support for internationally trained Physiotherapists in their preparation for taking the National Physiotherapy competency examinations. The aim was to create a program comprised of the educational tools and infrastructure to support internationally educated physiotherapists (IEPs) in their preparation for entry to practice in Canada and, to improve their pass rate on the national competency examination. Methods The program was developed using a logic model and evaluated using program evaluation methodology. Program tools and resources included educational modules and curricular packages which were developed and refined based on feedback from clinical experts, IEPs and clinical physical therapy mentors. An examination bank was created and used to include test-enhanced education. Clinical mentors were recruited and trained to provide clinical and cultural support for participants. Results The IEP program has recruited 124 IEPs, with 69 now integrated into the Canadian physiotherapy workforce, and more IEPs continuing to apply to the program. International graduates who participated in the program had an improved pass rate on the national Physiotherapy Competency Examination (PCE); participation in the program resulted in them having a 28% (95% CI, 2% to 59%) greater possibility of passing the written section than their counterparts who did not take the program. In 2010, 81% of all IEP candidates who completed the UBC program passed the written component, and 82% passed the clinical component. Conclusion The program has proven to be successful and sustainable. This program model could be replicated to support the successful integration of other international health professionals into the workforce.Medicine, Faculty ofPhysical Therapy, Department ofNon UBCReviewedFacult