Reys Ch. 9

What prerequisites are important prior to engaging students in formal work on the four basic operations? The four prerequisites are: facility with counting, experience with variety of concrete situations, familiarity with many problem solving contexts, and experience using language to communicate mathematical ideas.  Facility with counting means that as long as the student has enough time, they would be able to solve any problem with whole numbers by counting. However, there are much more efficient ways to solve problems than counting. Experience with a variety of concrete situations means that children need to have many experiences in problem solving situations to work with physical, or concrete, objects to develop and understanding about math operations. Materials also provide a link to connect each operation to real world problem solving situations. Whenever a child wants to be sure that an answer is correct, materials can be used for confirmation. Familiarity with many problem contexts means that students should view math as problem solving and having real life connections. Children need to talk about and write about math. Putting their experiences into words helps with making meaning and deeper processing. As soon as possible have students put their ideas on paper. If they are unable to write have them draw, but as soon as they are able to write they should be encouraged to write number sentences and a narrative explanation of their thinking.