Kindergartners' Understanding of Additive Commutativity within the Context of Word Problems

doi:10.1006/jecp.2000.2580

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Volume 79, Issue 1, May 2001, Pages 23-36

https://doi.org/10.1006/jecp.2000.2580 Get rights and content

Abstract

Baroody and Gannon (1984) proposed that children's understanding of additive commutativity progresses through several levels of understanding based on a unary view of addition (change meaning) before developing a “true” level of understanding based on a binary conception (part-whole meaning). Resnick (1992) implied that children have both a unary and a binary conception of additive commutativity from the earliest stages of development. Fifty-three 5- and 6-year-old (M = 6-0) kindergartners' unary and binary understanding of additive commutativity was investigated using performance on tasks involving change-add-to and part-part-whole word problems, respectively. The data were inconsistent with the predictions of both models and suggest three alternate theoretical explanations. Moreover, the data indicate that success on a task involving change-add-to problems may be a more rigorous test of understanding of additive commutativity than that involving part-part-whole problems.

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^f1: Address correspondence and reprint requests to Jesse L. M. Wilkins, Department of Teaching and Learning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 300-C War Memorial Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Fax: 540-231-9075. E-mail: [email protected].

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Regular ArticleKindergartners' Understanding of Additive Commutativity within the Context of Word Problems

Abstract

Learning and Instruction

Some reflections on the acquisition of knowledge

Educational Researcher

Are discovering commutativity and more economical addition strategies related?

Problem Solving

Problem size and mentally retarded children's judgment of commutativity

American Journal of Mental Deficiency

The development of commutativity principle and economical addition strategies

Cognition and Instruction

Children's use of mathematical structure

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education

Preschool children's knowledge of addition and subtraction

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education

The development of addition and subtraction problem-solving skills

The acquisition of addition and subtraction concepts in grades one through three

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education

Do they know what they are doing? Children's use of economical addition strategies and knowledge of commutativity

Educational Psychology

The effect of semantic structure on first graders' strategies for solving addition and subtraction word problems

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education

Regular Article
Kindergartners' Understanding of Additive Commutativity within the Context of Word Problems