Children’s use of multiple and variable addition strategies in a game context

Abstract

Developmental and contextual effects on children’s addition strategies were assessed in preschool, kindergarten and first‐grade children’s strategy use while playing a board game (‘Chutes and Ladders’), using one or two dice to compute moves. Children of all ages displayed multiple‐ and variable‐strategy use, and there was a progression toward more sophisticated strategy use with age. Different patterns of strategy use in the two‐dice condition were observed as a function of whether children began the game with one versus two dice and for children who could recognize (as opposed to having to count) die roles of ‘5’ and ‘6’ in the one‐die condition. An examination of latencies indicated that more noncounting (start‐up) time was required to execute the MIN than the SUM strategy. Children showed significantly greater speed and accuracy when adding numbers during the game than in the math problems that followed. The findings reflect young children’s flexible use of strategies and extend Siegler’s adaptive strategy choice model to the development of simple addition strategies in an everyday context.