Marlene Chesney describes a piece of research where the participants were asked to complete a calculation, 16 + 8, and then asked to describe how they solved it. The diversity of invented strategies will be of interest to teachers along with the recommendations that are made. So "how do 'you' solve 16 + 8?"

The research examined the calculation methods used by pupils in Grades 3-6 when they were presented with problems that could be worked out efficiently and flexibly by applying number sense. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 179 pupils between the ages 7 years and 10 months to 12 years and 10 months. in mainstream education in…

Numerical estimation has been used to study how children mentally represent numbers for many years (e.g., Siegler & Opfer, 2003). However, these studies have always presented children with positive numbers and positive number lines. Children's mental representation of negative numbers has never been addressed. The present study tested children…

It is often assumed when students fidget they are not on task. Two within-subject studies challenge this assumption by testing the effect of allowing fidgeting on three types of thinking: speeded mental math (Study 1), brainstorming and memory (Study 2). Study 1 showed that student's performance on speeded math was no different when performed in a…

The aim of this study was to investigate the specific numerical and calculation abilities of 28 children with ADHD without comorbid mathematical learning disabilities (LD), ranging from the 1st to the 5th grade of primary school, and to examine the stability or the development of the arithmetic profile. Our results showed that a high percentage of…