Abstract

Our current research into children's multiplicative thinking has shown that children have the capacity to think multiplicatively and that some aspects of multiplicative thinking are more thoroughly understood than others. We look at a data set obtained over three classes in the same year level and explore the considerable variation in responses to several key questions on a multiplicative thinking quiz. The questions relate to the 'times bigger' notion in comparing numbers, the ability to use standard place value partitioning when operating, the ability to articulate what happens when numbers are multiplied and divided by powers of ten, and the role of zero. It could reasonably be implied that the variation in understanding across the three classes may be due to pedagogical emphases.

Keywords

mathematics, multiplicative thinking, pedagogical emphases

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