Do your students have the incorrect idea that addition "makes numbers bigger" and subtraction "makes numbers smaller"? Do they believe that subtraction is always "taking away"? What tasks can you offer--what questions can you ask--to determine what your students know or don't know--and move them forward in their…

Math games can be powerful tools in helping students achieve automaticity in basic addition and related subtraction facts if both teachers and students use them purposefully. According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM 2000), developing a solid mathematical foundation is essential for every child in prekindergarten through…

Kinesthetic learning, one of the VAK learning styles, is now also being adapted by different gaming consoles and platforms. This paper presents Salapiggy, a two-part kinesthetic educational Sifteo game that has both a tutorial on money and sorting game. It is localized in the Philippines and uses Filipino as the User Interface Language and the…

The involvement of working memory (WM) was examined in two types of mental calculation tasks: exact and approximate. Specifically, children attending Grades 3 and 4 of primary school were involved in three experiments that examined the role of verbal and visuospatial WM in solving addition problems presented in vertical or horizontal format. For…

Ever since "mental arithmetic" was updated to "mental calculation," official documents have succeeded in perpetuating several basic misconceptions and misunderstandings about this topic. This situation does not augur well for the successful teaching of mental calculation strategies to young children. In this article, the author…

Background: Several studies have examined young primary school children's use of strategies when solving simple addition and subtraction problems. Most of these studies have investigated students' strategy use as if they were isolated processes. To date, we have little knowledge about how math strategies in young students are related to other…

Discusses classroom practices that promote the understanding of number concepts in the primary grades. (Author/NB)

Using drawings of various monsters to explain and enhance the learning activities, this arithmetic/mathematics curriculum guide begins with exercises requiring basic number identification. The remainder of the guide includes over one hundred addition and subtraction activities including crossword puzzles, maps, and number matching. (SH)

This document plus diskette product provides nine interactive puzzles and games that both teach and provide practice with simple addition and subtraction concepts. The activities address these skills through carrying in addition and regrouping in subtraction. The activities address cognitive skills such as problem solving, planning, visual pattern…

Using error analysis and individual interviews, the problem-solving actions of first and second graders were analyzed. Shortcomings of children's knowledge and solution strategies were seen to be overcome by instruction. A control group, with usual arithmetic instruction, and an experimental group were established and the hypothesized…

Presents a first-semester course in mathematics for 6-year-old children by formulating certain general requirements for the curriculum and the instructional methods with the aim of leading children to form their initial mathematical concepts. (ASK)

A longitudinal study investigated children's ability to infer, from initial and final relative numerosity information, which of four transformations of a stimulus array had occurred: addition, subtraction, expansion, or contraction. It was expected that performance would reflect a sequence of three levels in understanding the effects of addition…

Reviews: "ArithMagic (Counting, Addition, Subtraction)" which uses graphics to illustrate/review basic arithmetic concepts; "The Sweet Shop" which uses graphics (and a character called Mr. Jellybean) to teach arithmetic concepts; and "Math Magic," a monster-filled arcade game that teaches addition and subtraction.…

On the basis of implications drawn from Piagetian theory, an approach to first-grade arithmetic which eliminated instruction and used only two kinds of activities (situations in daily living and group games) was implemented in an experimental context. Situations in daily living and group games, in contrast to "mechanical" worksheet…

Literature at national and international levels argues the importance of including mental computation in a mathematics curriculum that promotes number sense. However, mental computation does not feature in importance in the current Queensland mathematics syllabus documents. Hopefully, with the writing of a new mathematics syllabus, mental…