Abstract
This study was conducted on year 4 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education program for Cycle one teacher candidates. The effect of practicing mental calculation strategies in improving students’ numeracy proficiency was put under some tests to measure its effect in a scientific way. A Pre-quiz was conducted before with no prior practice done in order to check the strategies the students were using in performing calculations. After four weeks practice and implementation which focused mainly on addition and subtraction questions, as a result a post quiz was written by the students. The improvement results were recorded and analyzed. After four weeks of practicing multiplication and division questions, another post quiz was written by the students as a result of that. Once again, the improvement results also were recorded and analyzed. Furthermore, interviews and observations also were used to record changes in the students’ perspectives about using the mental strategies and their feelings toward their numeracy level. The results of the study showed that practicing the mental strategies had a significant impact on the students’ numeracy proficiency and their perspective toward their mental strategies. The study also showed that more practice had a significant impact on the students’ confidence as well as their ability to perform different mental strategies in their daily life. Keywords: Calculation strategies, Numeracy proficiency
Highlights
Keeping up with the recent pedagogy in teaching and learning numeracy is important for mathematics lecturers in higher education
Bahrain primary math curriculum developer(s) and specialists have been putting a lot of emphasis in mental calculation strategies recently, which has resulted in putting extra pressure on lecturers to continuously improve their practices which may reflect on their students' practices as future math teachers
It is important that teacher candidates change the way they look at these mental strategies by having them practice them, and test the changes that appear in their numeracy proficiency
Summary
Keeping up with the recent pedagogy in teaching and learning numeracy is important for mathematics lecturers in higher education. For those who are specializing in the field of teacher training. Today, teaching students 1or 2 strategies to calculate numbers is not enough with all the diverse learners we have in our classes. Research findings point out the importance of using mental calculation strategies since the traditional methods are not effective enough to improve students’ numeracy proficiency (Thompson, 2009). ‘What are the best practices to teach mental strategies?’ and ‘How to improve students’ numeracy proficiency?’
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
