The problem of the study is the delineation and subsequent application of a system of theoretical concepts associated with teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers--referred to as the "operations of arithmetic."

The primary concern in today's educational system is the rate of progress students achieve in the classroom. Research has shown token reinforcement programs to be an effective method of increasing rate of work in the classroom; however, token economies are time consuming and do not meet the needs of all classroom situations. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the use of free time as a reinforcer in increasing rate of speed in working arithmetic problems and peer acceptance (how well an individual is accepted by his peers). The data indicated that free time as a positive reinforcer did increase the rate of speed in working arithmetic problems correctly; however, it did not affect peer acceptance.

A research project submitted to the Faculty of Science, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science by combination of coursework and research, 2017 / This study investigates learners’ performance in solving arithmetic equivalences and arithmetic and algebraic equations and was influenced by the notion of the didactic cut (Filloy & Rojano, 1989). Data was collected from two township schools in Johannesburg using a written test. With a Vygotskian perspective on learning, learners’ performance was investigated in two ways: through a response pattern analysis of 106 test scripts as well as through an error analysis on 46 scripts. The response pattern analysis identified seven clusters of responses, each of which suggested a different performance pattern. Two clusters of responses suggest evidence of the didactic cut and that learners struggled with the concept of negativity. A purposive sample of 46 test scripts was analysed further to investigate the actual errors that learners made. Common errors within the two most relevant response pattern analyses were also investigated. Using a combination of typological and inductive methods to categorise learners’ errors, equality and negativity errors were most prominent. Findings revealed that there were very few learners who used arithmetic strategies to solve arithmetic equations and that instead, they used algebraic procedures. The most unexpected finding was that learners appear to memorise the structure of solutions and hence manipulate their procedures in order to obtain familiar structured solutions. Key words: Equality, equal sign, solving linear equations, negativity, learner error, response patterns / XL2018

No description available.

The Mathematics Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAPS) document defines ‘mathematics [as] . . . a human activity’ (DBE, 2011a, p.8). This adoption of a realistic approach to the learning and teaching of mathematics appears to be partial, however, in that at the entry point of the Intermediate Phase, the recommendations of the policy makers are read as prescriptions by practitioners. In particular, the recommendation that ‘as the number range for doing calculations increases up to Grade 6, learners should develop more efficient techniques for calculations, including using columns’ (DBE, 2011b, p.13) is taken as a prescription to push the standard methods as the way to solving (often de-contextualized) problems from the very start of Grade 4, in disregard to the admonition that ‘these techniques should only be introduced and encouraged once learners have an adequate sense of place value and understanding of the properties of numbers and operations’ (DBE, 2011b, p.13). In the background of reports that place South African schools well below international standards with regard to mathematics, with only a third of the learners in grade 3 having attained the minimum standard required of learners at their level in 2011, this report focuses on an exploration into the purported catalytic role that the emergent model of an empty number line can play in shifting learners’ attention from counting (calculation by counting ) towards a focus on the structural properties of number (calculation by structuring). The use of emergent models is meant to support and improve upon learners’ informal solution strategies whilst seeking to reverse what Freudenthal referred to as the “anti-didactical” use of models in a ‘top-down instructional design strategy in which static models are derived from crystallized expert mathematical knowledge’ (Gravemeijer and Stephan, 2002, p.146). With a particular focus on poor performance in numeracy, the Wits Maths Connect-Primary (WMC-P) project was established with the overarching aim of improving the learning and teaching of primary school mathematics. My investigation is located within one Grade 4 class in one of the WMC-P project schools, and in this project, I act as both the teacher of six intervention lessons focused on additive relation problems, as well as researcher of the models and strategies that learners use prior to the intervention lessons, within these lessons, and subsequently. This report presents evidence to illustrate, firstly, that at the entry point of grade 4 level, learners are highly dependent on concrete strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems, and secondly that with proper intervention, learners can make significant shifts towards more abstract calculation. On the one hand, the key finding that the majority of the problems were tackled using tallies in the pre-test confirms what research has observed regarding the tendency for learners to remain highly dependent on concrete strategies at grade 2 (Venkat, 2011) and grade 3 (Ensor et al., 2009). Also, the results indicate a high proportion of incorrect answers resulting from the use of the column model across all questions in the pre-test and the post-test. On the other hand, the imposition of the use of the empty number line in the delayed-post-test points to the fact that improvements can be achieved in relatively short time frames, and importantly, that these improvements can be retained beyond their immediate coverage in class.

Orientador: Vanderlei Minori Horita / Banca: Marcus Augusto Bronzi / Banca: Michelle Ferreira Zanchetta / Resumo: A compreensão do sistema posicional decimal é fundamental para a construção do conhecimento lógico-matemático. No decorrer da história, o homem concebeu grandes inventos, entre eles, o mais lúdico, soroban - ábaco japonês. No país do Sol nascente, a escola tinha como lema: ler, escrever e fazer contas, e este último era sinônimo de soroban. Após a invenção da calculadora eletrônica, houve um campeonato entre soroban e calculadora, e o primeiro venceu, comprovando que o ábaco japonês é tão ou mais eficaz e rápido quanto a nova tecnologia do momento. Através do soroban, é possível realizar todas as operações fundamentais, básicas da aritmética. Este trabalho tem como objetivo, demonstrar o potencial deste instrumento, não somente como material concreto e manipulável, mas como apoio na compreensão das operações de adição, subtração, multiplicação e divisão, assim como as suas propriedades. Ainda, há um pequeno relato da experiência e análise realizada na recuperação de 2013, com alunos do 7o ano, utilizando soroban. Acreditando que o professor deve buscar novos conhecimentos, para seu crescimento profissional, o aluno, que é o foco, também poderá crescer à medida que o professor acreditar, ousar, experimentar novos materiais e metodologias / Abstract: Understanding the decimal positional systemis fundamental to the construction of logical mathematicalknowledge. Throughout history, mankind has conceivedgreat inventions, among them the playful soroban the Japanese abacus. In the Land of the Rising Sun, schools had as its motto: reading, writing and arithmetic, and the latter was synonymous with soroban. After the invention of the electronic calculator, there was a competition between soroban and calculator, and the first won, proving that the Japanese abacus is a effective and fast, or more, as the new technology available. Through the soroban all the fundamental basic operations of arithmetic can be performed. This work aims to show the potential of this tool, not only as a concrete and manipulable material, but as support to the understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division operations, as well as their properties. Further, there is a short account of the experience and analysis of the use of soroban as support to 7th grade students who failed in 2013. In teaching-learning process, using the principle that the teacher must seek new knowledge to his/her professional growth, students which are the focus, can also grow as the teacher believe, dare and try new materials and methodologies / Mestre

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of developmental instruction on the whole number computational abilities and mathematical attitudes of kindergarten children. Gender differences in mathematical achievement and attitudes were also explored.Ten traditional mathematics lessons were adapted by the researcher from the adopted mathematic program for the school system, Heath Mathematics, Connections, (Mangre, et al., 1992). Ten developmental mathematics lessons were created by the researcher following the guidelines of the NCTM Standards (1989) promoting the notion of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. The research designed both the Attitudinal Scale and Cognitive Abilities Test which were given both before and after the instructional treatment.The school corporation chosen as the site for the research was located in an urban area consisting of two small cities and the surrounding rural areas. The community consisted of people with diverse socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds. The sample for the study consisted of 62 kindergarten students enrolled in four half-day classes in one elementary school. Complete data were available for 50 students. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested at the .05 level of significance.ResultsThe four hypotheses were analyzed using a 2 (method) x 2 (gender) MANOVA on the gain scores for both achievement and attitude taken together. Gain scores were obtained by subtracting the pretest score from the posttest score for both achievement and attitude.The findings of the study were:1. There was no significant difference between the whole number computational abilities of kindergarten children receiving developmental instruction and kindergarten children receiving traditional instruction.2. There was no significant difference between the whole number computational abilities of kindergarten boys and kindergarten girls receiving developmental and traditional instruction.3. There was no significant difference in the mathematical attitudes of kindergarten children receiving developmental instruction and kindergarten children receiving traditional instruction.4. There was no significant difference in the mathematical attitudes of kindergarten boys and kindergarten girls receiving developmental and traditional instruction. / Department of Elementary Education

This project investigates primary 4 children's difficulties when solving word problems. It consists of an exploratory study examining the feasibility of using task-based interviews in the school setting; and a main study divided into three phases. The tasks set to the children are selected/adapted word problems from SPNG textbook Stage 2. Phase 1 investigates the difficulties of forty "average" primary 4 children from five different schools. Task-based interviews are used in conjunction with an error analysis. Phase 2 makes structural alterations to six of the most difficult Phase 1 word problems to investigate more closely the possible cause of difficulty. These altered word problems are re-presented to the Phase 1 sample. The original problems are not re-presented to this sample as the task-based interviews allowed for considerable practice of these original problems. Phase 3 took place a year later than Phase 2 and presents the structurally altered word problems alongside the original problems to a different, but similar sample. This sample consists of 126 children from the five schools participating during Phase 1/2. It is suggested that the findings do not support the view that a small unvarying number of variables consistently affect problem difficulty. Rather the sources of difficulty are likely to stem from a number of highly complex interacting sources; and the language itself need not be the block it sometimes appears to be. Informal strategies were evidently important for a significant minority of children, particularly in relation to subtraction problems. This seems well worth investigating further. The use of these strategies suggested that the language of the word problem could be understood when the child could link it to his/her informal strategies. Also, given simpler numbers, the semantic implications of the problem could often be mastered.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-09T12:28:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-09-26Bitstream added on 2015-04-09T12:47:22Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000810682.pdf: 445908 bytes, checksum: 959ac6977b930250909dda84530baacf (MD5) / A compreensão do sistema posicional decimal é fundamental para a construção do conhecimento lógico-matemático. No decorrer da história, o homem concebeu grandes inventos, entre eles, o mais lúdico, soroban – ábaco japonês. No país do Sol nascente, a escola tinha como lema: ler, escrever e fazer contas, e este último era sinônimo de soroban. Após a invenção da calculadora eletrônica, houve um campeonato entre soroban e calculadora, e o primeiro venceu, comprovando que o ábaco japonês é tão ou mais eficaz e rápido quanto a nova tecnologia do momento. Através do soroban, é possível realizar todas as operações fundamentais, básicas da aritmética. Este trabalho tem como objetivo, demonstrar o potencial deste instrumento, não somente como material concreto e manipulável, mas como apoio na compreensão das operações de adição, subtração, multiplicação e divisão, assim como as suas propriedades. Ainda, há um pequeno relato da experiência e análise realizada na recuperação de 2013, com alunos do 7o ano, utilizando soroban. Acreditando que o professor deve buscar novos conhecimentos, para seu crescimento profissional, o aluno, que é o foco, também poderá crescer à medida que o professor acreditar, ousar, experimentar novos materiais e metodologias / Understanding the decimal positional systemis fundamental to the construction of logical mathematicalknowledge. Throughout history, mankind has conceivedgreat inventions, among them the playful soroban the Japanese abacus. In the Land of the Rising Sun, schools had as its motto: reading, writing and arithmetic, and the latter was synonymous with soroban. After the invention of the electronic calculator, there was a competition between soroban and calculator, and the first won, proving that the Japanese abacus is a effective and fast, or more, as the new technology available. Through the soroban all the fundamental basic operations of arithmetic can be performed. This work aims to show the potential of this tool, not only as a concrete and manipulable material, but as support to the understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division operations, as well as their properties. Further, there is a short account of the experience and analysis of the use of soroban as support to 7th grade students who failed in 2013. In teaching-learning process, using the principle that the teacher must seek new knowledge to his/her professional growth, students which are the focus, can also grow as the teacher believe, dare and try new materials and methodologies