10 juillet 2023
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Lóa Björk Jóelsdóttir et al., « Age- and gender-related differences in Danish students’ use of number-based strategies when solving multidigit addition tasks », HAL-SHS : sciences de l'éducation, ID : 10670/1.dz5xdd
In Denmark, both the national curriculum and school textbooks privilege number-based strategies above standard algorithms for the solution of arithmetical tasks. However, while strategy adaptivity and flexibility are widely accepted as key goals of mathematics education, internationally students turn to standard algorithms. In this paper, therefore, we investigated the influence of both gender and age on students’ strategies for solving the addition tasks 386 + 214 and 482 + 218; tasks designed to elicit number-based strategies. The analyses confirmed the international trend, with an increasingly high use of the standard algorithm with grade level. However, where number-based strategies were used, they were no less accurate than standard algorithms. Importantly, the results also showed that girls used standard algorithms significantly more often than boys, who used number-based strategies significantly more often than girls.