Use magnitude-based number line games as candidate interventions for improving mental multi-digit subtraction¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 7 claims (7 for) · 3 studies (2 associational, 1 review), q3 · 2 of 3 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

In the discussion the authors propose intervention research examining whether training children's numerical magnitude processing affects mental subtraction performance. They note that interventions using games based on magnitude processing, e.g. number lines, have enhanced children's performance in numerical magnitude processing tasks as well as learning of multi-digit addition, and suggest examining whether such games affect mental multi-digit subtraction.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Interventions should use games based on magnitude processing, such as number lines

Constraints¶

• The article presents this as a proposal for future research, not a tested effect on subtraction

Target Learners¶

• children in primary elementary grades

Target Learning Goals¶

• numerical magnitude processing
• mental multi-digit subtraction

Claims¶

• Direct subtraction items were solved more accurately and faster than indirect addition items [+W]
• Symbolic numerical magnitude comparison has a more unique association than number line estimation with children's speed on indirect-addition subtraction items [+W]
• Numerical magnitude processing is significantly associated with children's mental multi-digit subtraction performance, controlling for intellectual ability and motor speed [+W]
• The association between numerical magnitude processing and subtraction is more prominent for items eliciting indirect addition than for direct subtraction items [+W]
• Both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude processing correlate with subtraction accuracy, but subtraction speed is associated only with symbolic tasks [+W]
• Number line estimation and numerical magnitude comparison correlate with mathematics achievement (r = .24 to .44), with number line estimation more strongly related in older children [+M]
• Both numerical magnitude processing tasks correlate positively with arithmetic fact retrieval, more strongly for symbolic [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Training symbolic magnitude comparison skills is a speculative route to improving multiplication fact retrieval, especially for children with dyscalculia
• Use exposure-based desensitization to numerical symbols to address the number-processing pathway of math anxiety

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Linsen, S., Verschaffel, L., Reynvoet, B., De Smedt, B. (2014). The Association between Children's Numerical Magnitude Processing and Mental Multi-digit Subtraction. Acta Psychologica. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.10.008