Mental abacus (MA) is a technique of performing fast, accurate arithmetic using a mental image of an abacus; experts exhibit astonishing calculation abilities. Over 3 years, 204 elementary school students (age range at outset: 5-7 years old) participated in a randomized, controlled trial to test whether MA expertise (a) can be acquired in standard…

The authors compared the mental computation performance and mental strategies used by an experimental Grade 2 class and a control Grade 2 class before and after instructional intervention. Results indicate that students in the experimental group had better performance on mental computation. The use of mental strategies (counting, separation,…

With COVID-19 continuing to make meeting face-to-face impossible, the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group/Groupe Canadien d'Étude en Didactique des Mathématiques (CMESG/GCEDM) executive decided that, for the first time, the CMESG/GCEDM meeting would be held virtually. By necessity, the program had to be much compressed with no topic…

Mrs. Fisher's class was learning about arithmetic functions by pretending to operate real-world "function machines" (Reeves 2006). Functions are a unifying mathematics topic, and a great deal of emphasis is placed on understanding them in prekindergarten through grade 12 (Kilpatrick and Izsák 2008). In its Algebra Content Standard, the…

Many students possess low confidence toward learning mathematics, which, in turn, may lead them to give up pursuing more mathematics knowledge. Recently, game-based learning (GBL) is regarded as a potential means in improving students' confidence. Thus, this study tried to promote students' confidence toward mathematics by using GBL. In addition,…

Math games can be powerful tools in helping students achieve automaticity in basic addition and related subtraction facts if both teachers and students use them purposefully. According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM 2000), developing a solid mathematical foundation is essential for every child in prekindergarten through…

The 43rd meeting of Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG) was held at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (May 31-June 4, 2019). This meeting marked only the third time CMESG/GCEDM (Groupe Canadien d'Étude en Didactique des Mathématiques) had been held in Nova Scotia (1996, 2003), and the first time it had been…

Three studies explore arithmetic tasks that support both substitutive and basic relational meanings for the equals sign. The duality of meanings enabled children to engage meaningfully and purposefully with the structural properties of arithmetic statements in novel ways. Some, but not all, children were successful at the adapted task and were…

Soroban abacus training is called as mental arithmetic training in our country. It is known for mental arithmetic to increase the ability of four mode operations. Besides this, how is the situation for the students which are having Soroban abacus training in the terms of problem solving abilities, creativity, development of concepts, attraction…

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 primary purpose of the study was to determine if computer-based training programs promoted fluent and flexible use of reasoning strategies to solve addition problems using different tasks. Specifically, does participation in strategy training result in the fluent application of the target strategy on a traditional mental arithmetic task? Does…

In guiding students to construct a mathematical concept themselves, learning process should be started by a context which is suit with the concept. In this research, we focused on structured arrangement which was believed to be able to support students ages 8-9 years old developing splitting strategy in doing multiplication. This study was a…

Mental computation--that is, calculating in the head--is a relatively new topic in mathematics curricula for primary-age children. It is an important skill because it enables children to learn more deeply how numbers work, make decisions about procedures, and create strategies for calculating, thus promoting number sense--a well-developed…

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of specific, individualized training for students with different levels of mathematical difficulties. Fifty-four students, with either severe or mild math difficulties, were assigned to individualized training or to a control condition. Ten students with severe math difficulties…

In a 9-month training experiment, 64 first graders with a risk factor were randomly assigned to computer-assisted structured discovery of the add-1 rule (e.g., the sum of 7 + 1 is the number after "seven" when we count), unstructured discovery learning of this regularity, or an active-control group. Planned contrasts revealed that the…