Students' errors on the desk-scale number line cluster on subtracting a negative number, with fewer errors on subtracting a positive from a negative or adding a negative to a positive¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among pilot participants, breakdowns on the desk-scale number line occurred particularly on problems involving subtracting a negative number, with other errors on subtracting a positive from a negative (n = 4) and adding a negative to a positive (n = 1). → Jacqueline Anton 2025

Evidence¶

Jacqueline Anton 2025¶

Jacqueline Anton, Dor Abrahamson. (2025). Walking the number line: towards an enactive understanding of integer arithmetic. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-025-09707-w

q2 · i? · design · r2

Observational error tally from the same 15-student pilot, reported in the Results section: nine students showed perspectival-coordination breakdown, chiefly on subtracting a negative; the article prints the counts for the two other error types.

"Many participants (n = 9) experienced breakdown in their attempts to accomplish this perspectival coordination on the SNL, in particular committing errors when presented with problems involving subtracting a negative number. Other errors on the SNL included subtracting a positive number from a negative (n = 4) and adding a negative number to a positive (n = 1)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students who got stuck on the desk-scale number line proactively returned to the body-scale number line to validate their answers, achieving perspectival mutuality — related
• Walking the body-scale number line disrupted students' prior misconceptions and erroneous rules, which resurfaced when they returned to the desk-scale number line — related
• Students' initial correct answers can mask reasoning based on a subtraction strategy not previously reported for integer order comparisons — related