Which one of the following teaching strategies is consistent with the textbook's discussion of children's mathematical development?
a. Making sure that children have acquired most of the characteristics of Piaget's formal operations stage before they begin to solve problems
b. Teaching tricks such as When you see the word less in a problem, you should subtract
c. Having children practice procedures in isolation before applying them to real-life situations
d. Making sure that children know why procedures work as well as how to use them
Question 2
Imagine that you give 5-year-old Richard a simple arithmetic problem. I have two toy soldiers in my hand, you tell him and show him the soldiers you are holding. But there are also three toy soldiers over there on the table, you say and point to additional soldiers across the room. If I put all of the toy soldiers in a basket, how many would I have altogether? How is Richard most likely to respond to the problem?
a. He is likely to use his fingers to try to solve the problem.
b. He is likely to pause for a few seconds and then say, Five.
c. He is likely to conclude that the larger number of soldiersin this case, threeis the correct answer.
d. He is likely to give you a puzzled expression, as 5-year-olds have virtually no understanding of the process of addition.