Helping a Young Child Connect Fact Family Addition and Subtraction using Tools

• Main Authors: Kurz, Terri L., Yanik, H. Bahadir, Garcia, Jorge
• Other Authors: HTW Dresden, Informatik, Mathematik
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden 2012
• Subjects: Tatsachen; Addition; Subtraktion; Multiplikation; Division; miteinander verbunden; Werkzeuge; Lernkarten; Zahlenzerlegung; Grundschule; Zahlen und Rechenoperationen; Fact families; addition; subtraction; multiplication; division; interconnected; tools; flashcards; number decomposition; primary school; number and operations; ddc:510; rvk:SD 2009
• Online Access: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-80491; http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-80491; http://www.qucosa.de/fileadmin/data/qucosa/documents/8049/Proceedings-636pages-Dresden2009_353-357.pdf

In order to help children become effective at addition and subtraction, it is important to provide them with an opportunity to investigate and discover the interconnectedness of the two operations. Fact families are one method teachers use to try and help children develop and understand how the operations relate to one another. This paper documents a strategy that was used with a seven year old boy to help him connect addition to subtraction. The strategy incorporated flash card tools to help him create logical problems to discover the mathematical relationship of fact families. With just a few trials, the child was able to create and explain problems that demonstrated the interconnectedness of fact families through addition and subtraction. The model was successful in helping the child advance his understanding. Additionally, it can be extended to more complex addition and subtraction problems as well as multiplication and division fact families.