Figure 7.10AnnaCalculations with larger numbers supported by jottings
In a study of children’s arithmetic Steffe (1983) found that children who ‘derived
or deduced solutions rather than trying to recall taught procedures were more able
to adapt their methods to cope with new problems and anticipate solution
strategies. It seems that pupils with access to bothrecalled and deduced number
facts, make more progress because each approach supports the other’ (Askew and
Wiliam, 1995, p. 8).
At this stage children still use a variety of ways of representing their mathematical
thinking. The mental methods that children use tend to cluster together and often
reflect approaches that have been introduced by their teacher. Children can thus use
these mental methods to help them visualise and work out the calculations, and at
other times children put down some of the stages of these ‘mental methods’ on
paper, to support their thinking.
Features for subtraction are very similar to addition on all points.Many of the
features listed below can be seen in the examples in Figures 7.11 and 7.12.
Addition features may include:- using known number facts
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