TITLE:
Young Children’s Representations of Addition in Problem Solving
AUTHORS:
Kamariah Abu Bakar
KEYWORDS:
Young Children, Addition, Representations, Understanding, Problem Solving
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.8 No.14,
November
17,
2017
ABSTRACT: Representation is crucial for both learning and solving mathematics problems. This paper explores young children’s representations (aged 6 years old) in addition activities in Malaysia. Six children were purposely selected representative of different ability groups. First, a pre-test was administered. Then, the children practiced using multiple representations to solve addition problems after being introduced to the addition concept concretely. Following the children’s success in utilizing multiple representations to solve practice tasks, the final problems were posed. Analysis of the children’s artefacts, in combination with the children’s behaviours and informal interviews revealed insight into their understanding of the addition concepts.