Computational Estimation Performance and Strategies used by Fifth- and Eighth-Grade Japanese Students

Abstract

Four hundred and sixty-six fifth- and eighth-grade Japanese students were administered a computational estimation test. The fifth-grade mean was 7.39 and the eighth-grade mean was 11.15 on the 39-item open-ended test. Interviews with 21 students who had scored in the top 5% revealed that the Japanese students employed the three general cognitive processes outlined in a theoretical model based on interviews with United States students: reformulation, translation, and compensation. They also used many of the same strategies (front-end, compatible numbers, flexible rounding) utilized by American students. Few of the Japanese students could recall being taught to estimate in school. Japanese students demonstrated a greater degree of mental computation ability than American students, less frequently made order-of-magnitude errors, and were more reluctant to accept error. Japanese students tended to apply algorithmic computational procedures. Their tendency to use paper-and-pencil procedures mentally often interfered with the estimation process.