Research behind the Best Evidence Synthesis

Item number
BES001

BES selection
Mathematics BES

Format
Journal article

Title
A longitudinal study of invention and understanding in children's multidigit addition and subtraction

Author
Carpenter, Thomas P ; Franke, Megan L. ; Jacobs, Victoria R ; Fennema, Elizabeth ; Empson, Susan B

Publisher
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Publishing Year
1998

Source
Journal for research in mathematics education, v.29 n.1 p.3-20

ISSN
00218251

Subject
Curriculum

Descriptors
Curriculum ; Arithmetic ; Junior school ; Primary education ; Mathematics skills ; Number concepts

Age Focus
Children (5 to 12 years)

Education level
Primary education

Language
English

How to obtain
Ask at your public or university library. If they don’t have it they can borrow it from another library for a small charge.

Abstract
This 3-year longitudinal study investigated the development of 82 children's understanding of multidigit number concepts and operations in Grades 1–3. Students were individually interviewed 5 times on a variety of tasks involving base-ten number concepts and addition and subtraction problems. The study provides an existence proof that children can invent strategies for adding and subtracting and illustrates both what that invention affords and the role that different concepts may play in that invention. About 90% of the students used invented strategies. Students who used invented strategies before they learned standard algorithms demonstrated better knowledge of base-ten number concepts and were more successful in extending their knowledge to new situations than were students who initially learned standard algorithms. (Author)

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The Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis programme (BES) : New Zealand Ministry of Education
http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/BES