Students who exhibit mature number sense make sense of numbers and operations, use reasoning to notice patterns, and flexibly choose effective problem-solving strategies (McIntosh et al., 1997, https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/6819). Due to its dispositional nature, mature number sense is typically measured through in-depth interviews or tests of…

Not all children are made the same. Learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia or dyscalculia are either not understood or ignored in schools. As a result, the schoolchildren suffer for no fault of theirs and they lag behind in their course of learning. They may find it difficult to achieve the basic skills of learning such as reading,…

A semiotic perspective on mathematical activity provides a way of conceptualizing the teaching and learning of mathematics that transcends and encompasses both psychological perspectives focussing exclusively on mental structures and functions, and performance-focussed perspectives concerned only with student's behaviours. Instead it considers the…

A widely recognized concern in elementary school mathematics education is that teachers' understanding of the mathematical curricular content generally appears quite fragmented, sparsely connected, and procedurally oriented. This pilot study applies methods of educational neuroscience to investigate and improve preservice teachers' learning and…

Describes a program in second-grade Dutch mathematics classes that emphasizes mental addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers up to 100. Deals with a strategy of counting by 10s from any number. (Contains 56 references.) (RLB)

Does conceptually oriented instruction jeopardize students' computational competence? If it does, then why are so many reform efforts continuing to emphasize the importance of teaching for conceptual understanding? If it does not, then why are the majority of teachers at all grade levels continuing to teach for computational competence without…