Related Experiment Videos
Does the cue help? Children's understanding of multiplicative concepts in different problem contexts
Sarah Squire1, Charlotte Davies, Peter Bryant
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. sarah.squire@psych.ox.ac.uk
The British Journal of Educational Psychology
|November 9, 2004
Summary
Nine and 10-year-olds grasp multiplication commutativity but struggle with distributivity, often confusing it with addition principles. Distributivity understanding is context-dependent, emerging first in measurement problems.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Mathematics Education
Background:
- Conceptual understanding of mathematics is crucial, yet multiplicative principles receive less attention than additive ones in early education.
- Investigating children's grasp of fundamental multiplication concepts is essential for effective math pedagogy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess 9- and 10-year-olds' ability to use commutative and distributive properties in multiplication.
- To determine if problem context influences the application of these properties.
- To explore if separate cognitive mechanisms underpin commutativity and distributivity.
Main Methods:
- Children solved 48 multiplication problems in a multiple-choice format.
- Problems included commutative, distributive, combined, and no-cue variations.
- Tasks were presented within Isomorphism of measures, Area, and Cartesian product contexts.
Main Results:
- Children showed strong understanding of commutativity but weak understanding of distributivity.
- Distributive errors included selecting numbers adjacent to the correct answer.
- Distributivity application varied by context, unlike commutativity.
Conclusions:
- Nine and 10-year-olds understand commutativity but not distributivity, potentially confusing it with addition.
- The distributive principle is more readily applied in Isomorphism of measures contexts.
- Findings inform educational strategies for teaching multiplication principles.