Abstract
The training experiment with 30 mentally handicapped children tested two models of mental-arithmetic development. Contrary to an associative learning model and consistent with a schema model, children's initial responses to a mental-addition task appear to be the product of a mechanical prescription, such as simply stating one of the addends. The evolution of mental-addition errors was not linked to practicing incorrect answers; mental-addition errors appear to be more an error of method than an error of recall. Moreover, experimental subjects mastered both practiced and unpracticed combinations involving zero and one, which indicates that they learned relationships, not specific associations:
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This work was supported bu Grants Numbered HD 16757-02 and -03 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
I am indebted to principal Rena Gaspard, the teachers, and children of the Foreman Center, Board of Cooperative Educational Services I, Monroe County, New York, U.S.A., whose cooperation made this study possible. Thanks are due to Cathleen Mason, Brian Burley, and Kathy Breen for their help in collecting the data. Thanks are also due to Jeremy Kilpatrik for his most helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.
An earlier version of this paper was presented at a research presession symposium, entitled ‘Learning Basis Facts: Developmental Perspectives’, at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Washington, D.C., April, 1986.
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Baroody, A.J. Mental-addition development of children classified as mentally handicapped. Educ Stud Math 19, 369–388 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312453
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312453