Basic Arithmetic Skills Research Articles

Some tests of an identical elements model of basic arithmetic skills.

Some tests of an identical elements model of basic arithmetic skills.

Young children's counting strategies: An observational study

SUMMARY Research has shown that most arithmetic difficulties have their origin at the stage in which basic arithmetic skills develop and automatize: i.e. at the age of 5–7 years. A remedial arithmetic programme has therefore been developed for normal children in this age group. The purpose of our paper is to present the results of an observational study of the counting strategies used among young, developmentally retarded children while participating in the remedial programme. The development of the observational instrument was based on video tapes of three young children attending a primary school. Observations showed that the children differed in their use of handy strategies at the end of the programme. In a second study four children with a developmental lag have been observed on their strategy-use. The children did not develop more advanced counting strategies over and above the basic counting strategies. The results therefore demonstrated no qualitative improvement.

Calculation and number processing: assessment battery; role of demographic factors.

This paper describes the structure and contents of EC301, a standardized testing battery for the evaluation of brain-damaged adults in the area of calculation and number processing. The battery was administered to 180 normal subjects stratified by education (3 levels), age (3) and gender. EC301 is composed of a large variety of tasks dealing with basic arithmetic skills, and their linguistic, spatial, and mnesic dimensions. The three main notational systems for numbers--Arabic digits, written verbal, and spoken verbal number forms--are explored. Analysis of error rates indicated the effect of some demographic factors (principally, education; incidentally, gender) on normal performance in some tasks.

On the cognitive structure of basic arithmetic skills: Operation, order, and symbol transfer effects.

In 2 experiments, college Ss practiced extensively on single-digit multiplication and division problems (e.g., = 6 × 9; 42 = × 6) and were tested on both practice problems and several altered versions of those problems, which were constructed by changing the required operation, operand order, or arithmetic symbol. There was strong positive transfer to test problems that had exactly the same elements (the numbers and the required operation) as a practice problem, regardless of whether other factors such as operand order or symbol were changed, but little if any positive transfer to test problems that did not have the same elements as a practice problem. An identical elements framework is used to interpret these results and implications for existing computational models of arithmetic fact retrieval and for the development of arithmetic skill are discussed

On the cognitive structure of basic arithmetic skills: Operation, order, and symbol transfer effects.

On the cognitive structure of basic arithmetic skills: Operation, order, and symbol transfer effects.

Illiteracy—The Neglected Enemy in Public Service

Recently concern has been voiced over worker illiteracy particularly in light of forecast labor force shortages. A survey of 533 local government units revealed that over 60% of the jurisdictions currently employed workers who lack basic language and arithmetic skills. Illiteracy clearly is a barrier to upward mobility and suggests problems in providing service to the public. Some evidence was found of proactive stand on the part of local government by providing some basic skill training or accommodating for lack of language or computational skills. Implications of labor access and mobility of traditionally disadvantaged groups are discussed.

A 4-year Followup Study of Children Born to Consumers of Lake Michigan Fish

Children exposed pre- and postnatally to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and related contaminants due, in part, to their mothers’ consumption of Lake Michigan fish were evaluated at age 4 years. Higher umbilical cord serum PCB levels were associated with lower weight and poorer cognitive function in two domains—short-term memory and cognitive processing speed. The memory deficit was observed in tests of auditory verbal and quantitative memory and visual pictorial memory; the processing speed deficit, in a visual discrimination task. Although much larger quantities of PCBs were transferred postnatally via breast-feeding than across the placenta, postnatal exposure was not related to any physical growth or cognitive deficits. The only outcome associated with postnatal exposure was a small reduction in activity level. Although the magnitude of these associations was modest, even relatively subtle deficits in short-term memory and speed of information processing may have a significant impact on the child's ability to master basic reading and arithmetic skills in school.

Computerized cognitive training with learning disabled students: a pilot study.

The effects of practicing computerized exercises in class by 59 learning disabled students who received an 8-hr. training program, 30 min. per week, were evaluated. Six exercises designed to facilitate basic cognitive skills development were used. Twelve subjects were assigned to a control group without any form of intervention. Covariance analysis (pretest scores used as covariates) showed a significant effect of training on mental arithmetic. These results suggest that practicing a computerized exercise of mental arithmetic can facilitate the automatization of basic arithmetic skills (addition, subtraction, and multiplication). The nature, progress, and evaluation of such types of intervention are discussed.

Babies Add up Basic Arithmetic Skills

Babies Add up Basic Arithmetic Skills

Let's Put the Mathematics in General Mathematics

As larger numbers of teenagers entered high school early in this century, many of these students were judged not able or willing to take traditional academic mathematics. Thus, a new course was introduced to reinforce the basic-arithmetic skills of this group of students. While changing little over the years, general mathematics has become one of the most taught and least examined mathematics courses offered at the secondary school level. Even as the world has become more technologically advanced, general-mathematics enrollment has remained relatively stable, and the curriculum is still rooted in the “basic skills.” Many high school students understandably think of the study of mathematics as both boring and as a set of “rules to follow and memorize” (IEA 1985, 81).

Relations of basic arithmetic and motor skills in deaf elementary school children.

3 segregated groups of Arab and Jewish deaf children of CA 10;9 (n = 28) were compared with a group of hearing Arab first graders (CA = 6;10, n = 32) on tests of basic arithmetic, static balance control, and the ability to suppress synkinetic finger movements. The hearing-impaired performed as well on arithmetic tasks and on the tests of synkinetic control as their normal peers who were four years younger, while on static balance they were even inferior to the latter. Significant correlations were found between the basic arithmetic and motor skills, within the hearing as well as within the hearing-impaired groups; these remained significant even within the small subgroups of the latter. As these results cannot be accounted for by low intelligence and neurological disturbances, or by direct or indirect effects of deficient language development, the assumption is supported that some type of neurological immaturity, unrelated to hearing loss, interferes with the acquisition of numerical skills in deaf children.

Science and developmental education

AbstractThe current community college focus on basic communication, arithmetic, and study skills for the developmental education student is insufficient. To function in modern society, all citizens need to understand basic science concepts.

Review of the Enright Diagnostic Inventory of Basic Arithmetic Skills

Review of the Enright Diagnostic Inventory of Basic Arithmetic Skills

Mathletics: Adding Activity to Arithmetic

Teachers are motivated to teach arithmetic. Students are motivated to participate in athletics. Why not teach arithmetic through athletics? With that premise in mind, the intermediate teaching team at the Ackerman Laboratory School on the campus of Eastern Oregon State College et about devising a method of using athletics as a springboard to teaching basic arithmetic skills.

Program Your Microcomputer to Do Arithmetic

Mathematics teachers frequently face the problem of teaching about computers to students who are already sophisticated in their use, for example, to students who have access to a home computer. For such students, it is desirable to suggest projects that will enhance their programming skills and reinforce their understanding of mathematics. Unfortunately, most computer programs that use mathematical knowledge require familiarity with high school mathematics. The purpose of this article is to suggest an interesting programming project that requires familiarity with only basic arithmetic skills. Thus, this project is especially suitable for secondary students with a knowledge of computers.

Diagnosis and Remediation of Sentence–solving Error Patterns

When you grade a set of arithmetic test papers, how often do you notice that you seem to be marking the same items incorrect on one test paper after another? You know the feeling; as your pencil moves down the set of answers—right, right, right, wrong, right, wrong, right, … —you know that you've graded two or three other papers with exactly the same incorrect items. You might even make a mental note of the students' names, trying to find a reason why they all missed those particular items. And if all these students happen to have mastered basic arithmetic skills, you might check to see if they were all out of class for some reason (such as a meeting or chorus practice), or you check over the test items to see if they are misleading or poorly reproduced on their test papers. There is a nagging feeling that something is causing all those good students to miss the same items. Yet since they all passed with 80s or better, the feeling goes away until next year when that topic is encountered and you promise yourself that when you have time you'll take a closer look.

Practical Arithmetic and Transfer

Transfer of mathematical problem-solving ability was studied among adult unschooled cloth merchants and tailors in West Africa. The purpose was to examine the role of familiarity of problem components and of the overall problem form. Experimental tasks tested arithmetic ability, measurement facts, and ability to solve variations of typical cloth-selling arithmetic problems. Results showed cloth merchants and tailors to be equivalent in basic arithmetic and measurement skills but that cloth merchants were better able to organize these skills to effectively solve price problems with both familiar and unusual materials. Using unfamiliar numerical content interfered with the ability to execute component arithmetic operations for both professional groups.

Use of the Talking Calculator to Improve Mathematical Skills

Describes a study at the Rehabilitation Center, Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind, to determine if training with a talking calculator would improve basic arithmetic skills. Thirty-five visually impaired adults were tested before and after a period of training; there was an 87 percent improvement in their mean posttest scores over their mean pretest scores. Thus, given proper training and tools, it is possible for visually impaired adults to develop good mathematical skills.

“Fertilizer” Is Important!

It is somewhat paradoxical, but at a time when there is increasing concern for mastery of basic arithmetic skills, there is a growing recognition of the fact that the able child is a neglected child. It is true that the basic program in most elementary schools probably includes optional segments that are intended to remedy this neglect and they are generally referred to as enrichment. However, although these optional segments are intended to be challenging and interesting, their very nature seems often to suggest that the term enrichment is a misnomer.

Television Commercials in the Foreign Language Classroom

Television is a medium that for the last decade has risen in popularity and can be found in 95 percent of the households in the United States.' According to A. C. Nielsen, these TVs are being viewed on an average of six hours a day per house. There are some estimates which report that pre-schoolers watch an average of fifty hours of television a week. Many of these pre-schoolers, products of Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, and Villa Alegre, have been able to learn basic arithmetic and language skills before entering school. As teachers of foreign languages we are more than ever pressed to look for content that combines the audio, visual, and cultural aspects of communication. For this material we find that we only have to look as far as our television set. The television commercial, a small but significant part of commercial programming, can serve as a point of departure for a cultural or grammatical structural unit. Television commercials in the United States or abroad were made to sell products. An endorsement of the product keeps a television program on the air. The message is persuasive and leaves the viewer with certain fantasies regarding his life and present state of affairs. In the United States a great deal of the advertising addresses the youth culture of the Pepsi Generation. Are the values expressed in those messages universally shared values? Would a person from an Hispanic background believe in the magic of the Pepsi Generation? In a Puerto Rican Eastern Airlines commercial, El Reencuentro2 Jos6 Antonio L6pez, a native of Puerto Rico living in New York, decides to go back to Puerto Rico to visit his family. Jos6, who is in his early twenties, and his father have the following conversation as they are walking through a park in San Juan, Puerto Rico. PADRE: Bueno, ?qu' te parece tu pueblo?