i'm looking for beginners examples For ex, how is addition with 3 digits thought to children .
I know Indian methods where you start adding from far right and carry 10's to left, just don't want to confuse kids if there are different methods here.
I'm trying to understand Maths technique thought in local schools in swiss german side , tried searching existing threads and either my searching skills are bad or did not find anything.
Thats how I learned it here 25 years ago.
Just take a look at what your child, I assume you have one and want to help him, brings home from school.
Thanks , good to know it's similar.
Yes, it is to help my child and so far they still have double digit adding a single digit , which the child tries to do by counting on fingers , and I was just curious.
What class is your child in? How old are they?
Here in Zurich they encourage the kids to work out themselves how best/they like to do this in their head. So counting on fingers is part of the "normal" and fine.
From memory they learn the method you are describing in 4th (Maybe 5th) class. And the subtraction is a little different again.
Dear Basel,
It is indeed very different and based on intuition and mental calculations rather than structured methods. My child who is dyscalculic could never learn that whilst she is really good at doing “written exercises”. The results are that she can do the math but she does not have good marks. Best way to start are the school books. I could not find any other material.
At our school, the carryover is written as a new mini-line, and the result double-underlined. Ex:
. 1234 + 789 _ 111 __ sum _____ _____
Ugh! Formating!!! Ignore that extra dot.
So, the kids have to write in smaller than the regular font the carryover numbers, respecting the place order. Should they forget to write the carryover, points deducted. Should they forget to double-underline the result, points deducted. Should the operation be ever so slightly different than how the teacher wants it, points deducted.
Best is to ask the teacher how they want it done.
Thank you all for your helpful replies.
i'll ask teacher as well, child is in class 2 and good at math, I was just trying to be curious.
Thanks again!
Same used in Britain in the 40s and 50s (for my parents) and in the 70s, for me!
Perhaps it was invented in India.
Yup. On the one hand, they do a lot of "intuitive" math, less structured - but kids who are average at math don't get enough practice this way, which they would with a more structured approach. On the other hand, you get stickler rules like this, where points are deducted even though the process is correct, as is the result, but, say, a double line does not look sufficiently neat.
I give my kid additional problems (as she doesn't get enough practice with the amount and kind the school provides, it's simply not enough for her to internalize the process) and occasionally teach her something the way I was taught instead of the "intuitive" way here, which she's bound to forget. For reference, she's now 13, in secondary school, and this has been the case since approximately 4th grade.
My way:
1234-211 = 1023
1023 + 1000 = 2023
done!
Tom
You are right, Tom, first approach taught is yours - basically rounding up or down to the next 10, 100, 1000, as may be the case, then the second approach is as I have shown.
This.
The majority of the 15-16 year old students in my class (thats about half of my class, the other half already has matura, german abitura or has even been some semester in a university) lacks procedural knowledge for the simplest calculations.
They aren't worse than 10 years ago when I have started, just less structured. I invest a lot of time during the first year to help them develop their strategies, it usually pays off in the third year then.
This is similar to how I learned subtraction as a kid, except the carry over was written at the top and there was no need to double underline the result.