Age-related differences in children's strategy repetition: A study in arithmetic.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Development
• Educational Psychology
• Mathematics Education

Background:

• Children's strategy selection and execution in computational estimation are crucial for mathematical development.
• Understanding how children adapt or persist with strategies informs educational interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate strategy repetition in computational estimation among elementary and middle school students.
• To examine the effects of age and strategy consistency on performance in estimation tasks.

Main Methods:

• Third, fifth, and seventh graders estimated two-digit arithmetic problems, choosing between rounding up or down strategies.
• Trials involved consecutive problems with either consistent or inconsistent optimal strategies, interspersed with a letter judgment task.

Main Results:

• Children demonstrated a tendency to repeat strategies, even when suboptimal.
• Strategy repetition decreased with increasing age.
• Repeating strategies, regardless of optimality, provided performance benefits.
• These benefits of strategy repetition were consistent across different grade levels.

Conclusions:

• Children's strategy use in computational estimation is characterized by repetition, influenced by age.
• Persistence with a chosen strategy can yield performance advantages, highlighting the interplay between selection and execution.
• Findings have implications for understanding strategy development and improving mathematics education.