Background: This study aimed to identify the mathematical domains affected in adults with neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) and the impact of the numerical difficulties on the patients' activities of daily living. Methods: We assessed 28 adult patients with NF1 and 28 healthy control participants. All participants completed the standardised battery of…

The development of numerical concepts is described from infancy to preschool age. Infants a few days old exhibit an early sensitivity for numerosities. In the course of development, nonverbal mental models allow for the exact representation of small quantities as well as changes in these quantities. Subitising, as the accurate recognition of small…

Numerical understanding and arithmetic skills are easier to acquire for whole numbers than fractions. The "integrated theory of numerical development" posits that, in addition to these differences, whole numbers and fractions also have important commonalities. In both, students need to learn how to interpret number symbols in terms of…

The supposed pre-eminence of an external examination can exert a disproportionate influence on a curriculum and the associated learning and teaching. Teaching can easily subordinate learning and understanding to curriculum coverage if the society develops a culture that appears to make such demands. This study focuses on Tanzania and provides the…

Children's understanding of the inversion concept in multiplication and division problems (i.e., that on problems of the form "d multiplied by e/e" no calculations are required) was investigated. Children in Grades 6, 7, and 8 completed an inversion problem-solving task, an assessment of procedures task, and a factual knowledge task of simple…

Understanding conceptual relationships is an important aspect of learning arithmetic. Most studies of arithmetic, however, do not distinguish between children's understanding of a concept and their ability to identify situations in which it might be relevant. We compared 8- to 9-year-old children's use of a computational shortcut based on the…

This book includes two main sections: a discussion of problem solving and a section on computation with whole numbers. A primary theme of the text is that problem solving sets the stage for meaning and conceptual development with respect to numbers. The section on problem solving includes numerous problem-solving activities that have a dual…

In two experiments, large effects of variations in the form and timing of the cardinality question suggested that preschoolers' cardinality responses were situation-specific. Results suggested that children had no initial understanding of the relation between cardinality responses and numerosity. (RH)

Nunes and Bryant (Children doing mathematics, Blackwell, Oxford, 1996) proposed that an understanding of the additive composition of number could be a precursor to an understanding of the decimal structure. If this is so, children should achieve an understanding of additive composition before they can handle the decimal structure. The aim of our…

Investigates numerical competence in five-month-old infants using a violation-of-expectation paradigm. Supports previous findings that young children possess not only the competence for limited numerical abstraction, but also the ability to carry out addition and subtraction operations. An alternative explanation, that infants' responses are based…

Teachers who believe "practice makes perfect" may engage students in repetitive, perhaps timed, computational exercises. If educators teach students to understand the procedures they practice, however, they will not need as much drill and they will have more flexible use of the computations they perform. Three-quarters of a century ago,…