How best to promote fluency with basic sums and differences is still not entirely clear. Some advocate a direct approach--using drill to foster memorization of basic facts by rote. Others recommend an indirect approach that first involves learning reasoning strategies. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of 2…

Presents 2 complementary techniques for promoting success in computer-based exploration environments for arithmetic instruction. Semantic constraints are explained, heuristic guidance is discussed, use of the techniques for subtraction instruction is described, and field testing with students in grades 1-3 is briefly discussed. (25 references)…

This study was conducted to determine whether the traditional classroom approach to instruction involving the addition and subtraction of number facts (digits 0-6) is more or less effective than the traditional classroom approach plus a commercially-prepared computer game. A pretest-posttest control group design was used with two groups of first…