Children's Strategy Choices on Complex Subtraction Problems: Individual Differences and Developmental Changes.

ABSTRACT: We examined how children's strategy choices in solving complex subtraction problems are related to grade and to variations in problem complexity. In two studies, third- and fifth-grade children (N≈160 each study) solved multi-digit subtraction problems (e.g., 34-18) and described their solution strategies. In the first experiment, strategy selection was investigated by means of a free-choice paradigm, whereas in the second study a discrete-choice approach was implemented. In both experiments, analyses of strategy repertoire indicated that third-grade children were more likely to report less-efficient strategies (i.e., counting) and relied more on the right-to-left solution algorithm compared to fifth-grade children who more often used efficient memory-based retrieval and conc

SUBMITTER: Caviola S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6057409 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature