Options
Mental computation performance : strategies, perceptions and gender differences of secondary two students
Author
Khoo, Ewe Ewe
Supervisor
Foong, Pui Yee
Abstract
Mental computation is a useful skill in everyday life and its strategies are related to the understanding of the structure of number system. The objective of this study is to investigate the mental computation performance of secondary two students in Singapore and their mental strategies. The gender difference in mental computation performance together with students' perceptions towards mental computation are also studied. In addition, the study examines the relationship between students' school mathematics achievement and their mental computation skills.
The instrumentation consists of a mental computation test to assess their mental computation performance and a questionnaire to survey their perceptions towards mental computation. Selected students were interviewed to identify the mental strategies they employed and their preferences were analysed. The mean Mental Computation Test score for the 221 students was 29.8 (S.D.=7.5) out of the maximum of 40 items. Comparing their performance in the four operations (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) and the types of numbers (whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentage). the students found mental addition of whole numbers to be the easiest; while mental multiplication and percentages were the most demanding for them. There was no significant gender difference in the mental computation performance between the 124 male and 97 female students.
Mental computation skills and number sense are inter-related. A person with good number sense ability would usually be able to demonstrate high mental computation skills and the converse is true; a person with high mental computation skill would usually have good number sense ability. The interview results showed that students with good mental computation skills preferred the non-standard with reformulation strategies because they had good number sense and were flexible in using number properties to reformulate the numerical task. However, students with poor mental computation skill tended to use only the mental analogue of the standard paper and pencil algorithm as they were not able to formulate other strategies.
Results of this study also showed a positive relationship between school mathematics achievement and mental computation skill; that is students with good mental computation skill performed better in the school mathematics examination than those with poor mental computation skills and vice-versa. From the attitude survey questionnaire, it was found that the students perceived themselves to be more competent in written computation than mental computation: they felt that they learnt mental computation from both sources: in school and by themselves. However, they were divided in their views about the role of mental computation in their daily lives.
The implication of this study points out the need for explicit instruction in mental computation in the mathematics classroom. When students are explicitly taught to use mental strategies, their understanding of number concepts and number relationships will be reinforced and hence developed in them good number sense.
The instrumentation consists of a mental computation test to assess their mental computation performance and a questionnaire to survey their perceptions towards mental computation. Selected students were interviewed to identify the mental strategies they employed and their preferences were analysed. The mean Mental Computation Test score for the 221 students was 29.8 (S.D.=7.5) out of the maximum of 40 items. Comparing their performance in the four operations (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) and the types of numbers (whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentage). the students found mental addition of whole numbers to be the easiest; while mental multiplication and percentages were the most demanding for them. There was no significant gender difference in the mental computation performance between the 124 male and 97 female students.
Mental computation skills and number sense are inter-related. A person with good number sense ability would usually be able to demonstrate high mental computation skills and the converse is true; a person with high mental computation skill would usually have good number sense ability. The interview results showed that students with good mental computation skills preferred the non-standard with reformulation strategies because they had good number sense and were flexible in using number properties to reformulate the numerical task. However, students with poor mental computation skill tended to use only the mental analogue of the standard paper and pencil algorithm as they were not able to formulate other strategies.
Results of this study also showed a positive relationship between school mathematics achievement and mental computation skill; that is students with good mental computation skill performed better in the school mathematics examination than those with poor mental computation skills and vice-versa. From the attitude survey questionnaire, it was found that the students perceived themselves to be more competent in written computation than mental computation: they felt that they learnt mental computation from both sources: in school and by themselves. However, they were divided in their views about the role of mental computation in their daily lives.
The implication of this study points out the need for explicit instruction in mental computation in the mathematics classroom. When students are explicitly taught to use mental strategies, their understanding of number concepts and number relationships will be reinforced and hence developed in them good number sense.
Date Issued
1997
Call Number
QA109 Kho
Date Submitted
1997