ERIC Number: EJ802424
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Apr
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-6803
EISSN: N/A
Prospective Elementary Teachers' Understanding of Order of Operations
Glidden, Peter L.
School Science and Mathematics, v108 n4 p130-136 Apr 2008
This study investigates how well 381 prospective elementary, early childhood, and special education majors solved four arithmetic problems that required using the order of operations. Self-reported data show these students to be relatively able mathematically and confident in their ability, with no substantial dislike of mathematics. The percentage of answers that were incorrect that is attributable to order of operations ranged from 21.7% to 78.5%. Overall, fewer than half the subjects answered more than two questions correctly. Of those subjects who performed multiplication before addition, which indicates some knowledge of order of operations, 30.9% performed addition before subtraction and 38.0% performed multiplication before division rather than from left to right, which suggests that instead of using the correct order of operations, these students used the common mnemonic PEMDAS or "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally" literally, performing multiplication before division and performing addition before subtraction, rather than from left-to-right. Furthermore, 78.5% of subjects used the incorrect order of operations to compute -32.
Descriptors: Subtraction, Preservice Teachers, Elementary School Teachers, Preschool Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Mathematics Skills, Mathematical Concepts, Student Teacher Attitudes
School Science and Mathematics Association. Oklahoma State University, 245 Willard, Stillwater, OK 74078. Tel: 405-744-8018; Fax: 405-744-6290; e-mail: office@ssma.org; Web site: http://ssmj.tamu.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A