ABSTRACT

There is a growing awareness that many children are not developing fast and accurate retrieval-based strategies for solving single-digit addition problems. In this study we individually assessed 166 third and fourth grade children to identify a group of children (called accurate-min-counters) who frequently solved simple single-digit addition problems using a min-counting strategy and were accurate using it. We investigated if these children were adaptive when it came to using retrieval for simple addition and if they were disadvantaged when it came to demonstrating mental computational flexibility with multi-digit addition. We found accurate-min-counters represented over 30% of participants. These children were often incorrect when they were required to use retrieval for simple addition and were less flexible than most peers with mental computation strategies. The findings indicate that educators should be concerned about the prevalence of accurate-min-counting and call into question the widely held view that it is mostly children with a mathematics learning disability (or persistent low achievement) who display the protracted use of counting-based strategies for simple addition. Further research is needed to investigate if, and how, current teaching approaches are encouraging children to rely on counting beyond a time when it is advantageous to do so.

摘要

越来越多的人意识到，许多孩子没有制定快速准确的基于检索的策略来解决个位数的加法问题。在这项研究中，我们分别评估了 166 名三年级和四年级儿童，以确定一组儿童（称为精确最小计数器），他们经常使用最小计数策略解决简单的个位数加法问题并且使用它是准确的。我们调查了这些孩子在使用检索进行简单加法时是否具有适应性，以及在展示多位数加法的心理计算灵活性时是否处于不利地位。我们发现准确的最小计数器代表了超过 30% 的参与者。当这些孩子被要求使用检索来进行简单的加法时，他们通常是不正确的，并且不如大多数具有心理计算策略的同龄人灵活。研究结果表明，教育工作者应该关注精确最小计数的普遍性，并对普遍持有的观点提出质疑，即大多数有数学学习障碍（或持续低成就）的儿童表现出长期使用基于计数的方法简单加法的策略。需要进一步的研究来调查当前的教学方法是否以及如何鼓励孩子们在一个有利的时间之外依赖计数。研究结果表明，教育工作者应该关注精确最小计数的普遍性，并对普遍持有的观点提出质疑，即大多数有数学学习障碍（或持续低成就）的儿童表现出长期使用基于计数的方法简单加法的策略。需要进一步的研究来调查当前的教学方法是否以及如何鼓励孩子们在一个有利的时间之外依赖计数。研究结果表明，教育工作者应该关注精确最小计数的普遍性，并对普遍持有的观点提出质疑，即大多数有数学学习障碍（或持续低成就）的儿童表现出长期使用基于计数的方法简单加法的策略。需要进一步的研究来调查当前的教学方法是否以及如何鼓励孩子们在一个有利的时间之外依赖计数。