To add or to multiply? An in-depth study on primary school children's preference for additive or multiplicative relations

Previous research shows that children erroneously solve multiplicative word problems additively, and others solve additive word problems multiplicatively. Recently, a preference for additive or multiplicative relations has been raised as an explanation for these errors, besides lacking abilities. The present study aimed to characterise this preference by means of semi-structured interviews in which open problems were solved by both fifth and sixth grade children who did and did not prefer additive or multiplicative relations in a pre-test. Results characterised children's preference - and especially multiplicative preference - as something strong that is resistant to change. Moreover, children experience difficulties in justifying their preferred answer, which suggests that children's preferred answers arise rather in a non-deliberate way.

ISBN:978-956-6031-01-7

Jaar van publicatie:2018