Strategies of children in the resolution of multiplying situations: Recognition and use of units [Estrategias de los niños en la resolución de situaciones multiplicativas: Reconocimiento y uso de unidades]

Abstract

On this paper, an analysis of the strategies used by children in first and second grade of elementary education (7-8 years old) from two academic institutions in Bogota, Colombia, for solving multiplicative situations before receiving instruction on multiplication and division, is introduced. The analysis focuses on identifying whether children recognize different units, simple or compound, and the use they made of them, particularly if children build units to address the given situations, and whether the children re-interpretate the said situations with these units. This research was conducted by using the method of task-based interviews, from which it was possible to find evidence of the strategies used by the children, in particular two emerging strategies that have not been reported in the international literature: equivalence between different types of unit and coordinated use of composite units. © 2018, Comite Latinoamericano de Matematica Educativa. All rights reserved.