Date of Award

1987

Type

Thesis

Major

Specialist in Education

Degree Type

Specialist Degree in Education

Department

Teacher Education

First Advisor

Dr. Mary M. Lindquist

Second Advisor

Dr. James M. Brewbaker

Third Advisor

Dr. Carolyn M. Cartledge

Abstract

Computational estimation and mental computation are two of the most neglected areas of today's mathematical curriculum. Much has been written about these two concepts, but little instruction has been carried out in the classroom (Johnson, 1979; Reys, 1986). Freeman (cited in Reys & Bestgen, 1981) states that less than 3% of textbooks had estimation lessons. Reys (1987) found that only 4% of lessons in all fourth-grade textbooks of the early 1980's deal with estimation. Also, Buchanan (1978, p. 2) observes that: "Instruction in. estimation is not something that has been tried and failed; it has not been tried on any sustained or systematic basis." Her argument is supported by other researchers who found that good mathematics students are also skilled in estimation (Rubenstein, 1986; Reys & Bestgen, 1981).

Poor performance by all age groups on estimation questions has been found by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) during the past ten years (Reys, 1984). In general, significant gains were made by thirteen year olds between 1978 and 1982 in mathematics. But most of those gains were in lower order skills, such as basic facts and computation (Carpenter, Líndquist, Matthews, & Silver, 1983).

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