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…

This experiment explored the effects of ability and effort attributional feedback given during subtraction competency development on third-grade children's perceived self-efficacy and achievement. Children given ability feedback demonstrated the highest subtraction skill and self-efficacy; the effort and ability plus effort conditions did not…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether children in grade 3 who differ in cognitive processing capacity add and subtract differently. The researchers drew upon information from three sources: individual results from a battery of 14 tests, an objective-referenced achievement test measuring a variety of arithmetic skills related to…

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…

This practicum was designed to improve and increase the problem-solving skills of third-grade students. Using a specially designed 20-item test consisting of mathematical word problems, a preassessment was made of the addition and subtraction skills of 843 third-grade students from high, middle, and low socioeconomic levels in four Florida…

Data are reported from the eighth individual interview conducted in 1981 with students participating in a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. Ninety-two third-grade children in two schools in Wisconsin that used the Developing Mathematical Processes program were individually administered l8 verbal problems that…

This study assessed the extent to which procedurally proficient children (N=34) construct the part/whole logical structure that underlies the borrowing algorithm in subtraction. Results indicate that an understanding of the part/whole logic of number may be necessary to understand place value and borrowing. (TJH)

Determined whether 11 third-grade children, differing in cognitive processing capacity, solve addition and subtraction word problems differently. Results, among others, show that children who differ in cognitive processing capacity also differ in strategies they use to solve the same verbal problems and differ in their success in finding correct…

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…

Two experiments investigated how attributional feedback sequence influences children's motivation, attributions, self-efficacy, and performance. Third graders lacking subtraction skills received training and solved problems with one of four ability and/or effort feedback sequences. Children initially receiving ability feedback developed higher…

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…

This experiment tested the hypothesis that the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback influences children's attributions, self-efficacy, and skillful performance. Children deficient in subtraction skills received training on subtraction operations and solved problems over four sessions. During the problem solving, some children…

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…

This paper reports the results from one of a series of related, collaborative studies carried out in Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia, in 1979 and 1980, examining how young children acquire the skills to represent and solve addition and subtraction problems. The purpose of this study was to relate children's cognitive processing capabilities and…

Instructional aids for classroom use and worksheets which may be reproduced for individual seatwork are included in these support materials for unit seven of the science/math strand developed for Spanish-speaking students in grade three. They are designed to be used with the teacher's guide to the unit, which contains a timetable for their use.…