STRATEGIES OF MENTAL CALCULATION FOR ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION

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Published: Dec 5, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/enedim.21965
Keywords:
mental calculation mental calculation strategies integers addition and subtraction strategies flexibility
Ιωάννα Λεμονή (Ioanna Lemoni)
Post Graduate Studies in Mathematics Education
Κωνσταντίνος Χρήστου (Konstantinos Christou)
University of Western Macedonia
Abstract

The current study investigates students’ mental calculation strategies for addition and subtraction with integers. Specifically, it focuses on the strategies the students use to approach the tasks, their number-transformation strategies and their flexibility with these strategies. Twenty seven 8th and 9th graders were asked to solve mentally and explain their thought process for twelve tasks, such as -86+42. As it was expected, the majority of students initially transformed the calculation involving negative numbers into an equivalent calculation with natural numbers, and then they applied number-transformation mental strategies that were already available for natural numbers. In addition, interestingly enough, four students didn’t transform the problem of integers into a problem with natural numbers. Five new strategies for mental addition between integers with different sign came up from their responses.

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Author Biography
Κωνσταντίνος Χρήστου (Konstantinos Christou), University of Western Macedonia
Ass. Professor
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