Assessing student learning traditionally involves determining whether students can solve a certain percentage of problems correctly, under the assumption that this achievement indicates they have the knowledge and understanding they need to progress to new topics. This article explores what teachers can learn from looking closely at student…

Data (Schoen et al. 2016) suggests that because many students' understanding of subtraction is limited by thinking about the operation only as take-away or by using a default procedure, such as the standard subtraction algorithm in the United States, second graders are much more likely to solve 100 minus 3 correctly than 201 minus 199. This…

Multi-digit subtraction is difficult for students to learn. The purpose of this study is to explore how second-grade students communicate their understanding of double-digit subtraction through the use of manipulatives/tools. This qualitative study reports on six case studies of second-grade students where clinical interviews were the main source…

Fact fluency is an important prerequisite to mastering more complex and abstract mathematics principles. Delivering math interventions in the home setting may be a feasible way to expose students to necessary supports and improve math outcomes. The present study utilized a multiple baseline design across parent-student dyads to examine the impact…

How much is 41 - 39? How about 100 - 3? Which of those computations was easier for you to do? It so happens that first graders are much more likely to solve 100 - 3 correctly than 41 - 39. Likewise, second graders are much more likely to solve 100 - 3 correctly than 201 - 199. Our data (Schoen et al. 2016) suggest that the latter problems are more…

After the onset of formal schooling, little is known about the development of children's understanding of the arithmetic concepts of inversion and associativity. On problems of the form a+b-b (e.g., 3+26-26), if children understand the inversion concept (i.e., that addition and subtraction are inverse operations), then no calculations are needed…

This paper presents an examination of the construction of logic in multidigit subtraction. Interviews were conducted with 90 grade 2 and grade 3 students to determine whether they understood the logic of borrowing and whether the construction of the logic was related to procedural expertise or corresponding conceptual knowledge. Of 34 students…

TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES FOR SUBTRACTION AND/OR TIME OF SYMBOLIZATION UPON (1) ACHIEVEMENT IN ARITHMETIC, (2) ATTAINMENT OF NUMBER CONCEPTS, (3) ATTITUDES TOWARD ARITHMETIC IN GRADES ONE AND TWO, THIS REPORT ASSESSES FOUR EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES, THERE WERE TWO FIRST GRADE CLASSES OF 20 PUPILS EACH AND TWO SECOND GRADE…

This paper documents the achievement monitoring component of a three-year study on the acquisition of addition-subtraction problem-solving skills by young children. A set of performance objectives contained in or ancillary to ten instructional units on sentence-writing for verbal problems and algorithms specified test content. Tests measuring…

Compares two experimental programs for teaching mental addition and subtraction in the Dutch second grade (N=275). Discusses realistic program design (RPD) and gradual program design (GPD). Concludes that RPD pupils show a more varied use of solution procedures than GPD pupils. Contains 46 references. (Author/ASK)

Presents a three-year longitudinal study investigating the development of children's (n=82) understanding of multidigit number concepts and operations in grades one through three by using interview processes. Provides an existence proof that children can invent strategies for adding and subtracting and illustrates both what that invention affords…