Preservice primary teachers’ mental computation strategies in structurally-related addition and subtraction problems

2022-12-15
Çelikkol, Ecem
The purpose of this study is to analyze mental computation strategies used by preservice primary teachers while solving addition and subtraction problems that are related in terms of the part-part-whole structure. The data were gathered from 86 preservice primary teachers studying at a state university in Turkiye. In this single-case embedded design, a set of structurally-related two-digit addition and subtraction problems were implemented with semi-structured clinical interviews. The participants were given restricted time (5 seconds for each card) to answer the problems. After the whole set was completed, mental computation strategies were discussed in detail regarding the answers that the participants gave incorrectly and the answers they gave outside the given time. The interviews, checklists and researcher notes were used as main data source. The data was transcribed, the strategies were coded and analyzed according to the predetermined categories. The results of this study showed that preservice primary teachers do not have sufficient number sense and mental computation abilities. The participants expressed their need for paper and pen and used standard algorithm the most even though the problems contained shortcuts and were designed for using part part whole structure given in structurally-related problems. Besides the standard algorithm, benchmark, change both numbers, compensation, and part-part-whole were the other strategies that were used. On the other hand, some preservice primary teachers demonstrated unexpected strategies, and these strategies were named and described in this study. These results indicated that preservice primary teachers continue to apply algorithm related strategies and dependency on paper and pen from their early school lives. Considering that these participants will educate and guide their students in the future, it was thought vital for teacher candidates to strengthen their number sense and mental computation abilities.

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Citation Formats
E. Çelikkol, “Preservice primary teachers’ mental computation strategies in structurally-related addition and subtraction problems,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.