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)

Most studies of children's solution processes on simple addition and subtraction word problems have used individual interviews or the analysis of error patterns on paper-and-pencil tests as the primary data-gathering techniques. The present paper reports an investigation in which the contribution of eye-movement data was explored for studying…

This issue contains abstracts and critical comments for 11 published reports of research in mathematics education. The reports are concerned with: (1) the development of counting strategies; (2) a structural model for mathematics achievement for men and women; (3) teaching children to subtract by counting up; (4) teaching children to add using…

The results of an investigation of the development of children's knowledge of addition and subtraction concepts before they start school are detailed. The purpose of the study was to test the predictions of the three-stage model about the distinctions between the last two stages. Twenty-four children participated in the investigation. None of…

The purpose of this study was to identify the working memory capacity (M-space) for a group of 139 children (4 to 8 years of age) enrolled at Sandy Bay Infant School in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Four M-space tests -- The Counting Span Test (Case and Kurland, 1978), Mr. Cucui Test (DeAvila and Havassy, 1974), the Digit Placement Test (Case,…

Preschool children (n=115) in Poland were tested in five areas: counting, equipotency of sets, dividing, adding, and comparing. Results showed that these children already had informal knowledge of many of the concepts and skills included in the mathematics curriculum in the early grades. (PDD)

Surveys the format and contents of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century arithmetic textbooks. Discusses the types of problems that were most popular in these early texts and briefly analyzes problem contents. Notes the residual educational influence of this era's arithmetical and instructional practices. (Contains 29 references.) (Author/MDH)

Developed for elementary teachers, this activity unit is designed to teach students the importance of estimation in developing quantitative thinking. Nine ways in which estimation is useful to students are listed, and five general guidelines are offered to the teacher for planning estimation activities. Specific guidelines are provided for…

Compared young mathematically disabled and academically normal children in terms of the distribution of strategies and solution times involved with simple addition problems. Performance characteristics of normal students and disabled students who improved were essentially the same, whereas those of disabled students who did not change were…

Forty first-grade teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of children's solutions of addition and subtraction word problems was investigated. Most teachers could identify many of the critical distinctions between problems, and the primary strategies used to solve them, but did not have a coherent organizational scheme. (MNS)

Investigates issues of conceptual understanding in teaching and learning mathematics provided conceptually based instruction on place value and two-digit addition and subtraction without regrouping in four first grade classrooms. Conventional textbook-based instruction was provided in two first grade classrooms. Experimental-group students scored…

Over a 10-month period, normal children showed an increased reliance on memory retrieval and a decreased reliance on counting when they solved addition problems. There was an increase in speed of counting and of retrieving addition facts from long-term memory. Children with a mathematical learning disability showed no change in problem-solving…

A traditional view of mathematics learning suggests that basic fact knowledge provides a cornerstone for success in problem solving. But possibly, for some children, automated basic fact responses may be disadvantageous for their problem solving success. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between basic fact knowledge and…

The object of this study was to specify the relationship between logical and numerical structures by examining the processes used by operational and preoperational children in solving simple addition and subtraction problems. (MP)

This brief report compares the lessons on addition and subtraction of signed whole numbers in three seventh-grade Japanese mathematics texts and four U.S. mathematics texts. Japanese books contained many more worked-out examples and relevant illustrations, while U.S. books had more irrelevant illustrations and unsolved problems. (SLD)