Creating Mathematically

Powerful Students:
Computation Strategies
that Help Math
Make Sense
Math Matters

The single strongest predictor of completion of a bachelor’s degree

is the highest level of mathematics completed in high school.
Completing a course beyond advanced algebra, such as pre-calculus
or statistics, more than doubles the chance that a student entering
college will complete a degree.

The number of college and university mathematics courses taken is

the single greatest predictor of lifetime earning potential, cutting
across gender and other demographic groups.

Adelman, Cliffford, 1999. “Answers in the Toolbox: Academic Intensity, Attendance

Patterns, and Bachelor’s Degree Attainment.” U. S. Dept. of Education.
http://www.ed,gov/pubs/Toolbox/toolbox.html. Accessed 11/6/2006.
Who will get the best jobs
in a flat world?
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Jobs done face-to-face

 Great collaborators
 Great synthesizers & connectors
 Great leveragers
 Great explainers
 Passionate personalizers
 Great adapters
 Great localizers
 Anything green
 Math lovers
- think algorithmically
Thomas Friedman, March 21, 2007, Opening Address, National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA
 Computation Strategies &
Algorithms
Instead of learning a prescribed (and limited)
set of algorithms, many curricula now encourage
students to be flexible in their thinking about
numbers and arithmetic. Students begin to realize
that problems can be solved in more than one way.
They also improve their understanding of place value
and sharpen their estimation and mental-
computation skills.
The following slides are offered as an
extension to the parent communication from your
child’s teacher. We encourage you to value the
thinking that is evident when children use such
algorithms—there really is more than one way to
solve a problem!
Mentally think about this
problem:

1004 – 697
What was your thinking?
Share at your table.
An algorithm consists of
a precisely specified
sequence of steps that
will lead to a complete
solution for a certain
class of problems.
Five Important Qualities of Algorithms
 Accuracy (or reliability)
– Does it always lead to a right answer if you do it right?
 Generality
– For what kinds of numbers does this work?
 Efficiency (or complexity)
– Is it quick enough? Do students persist?
– Does it lead to easier calculations in the end?
 Ease of accurate use (vs. error proneness)
– Does it minimize errors?
 Transparency (versus opacity)
– Can you SEE the mathematical ideas behind the algorithm?

Hyman Bass. “Computational Fluency, Algorithms, and Mathematical Proficiency: One

Mathematician’s Perspective.” Teaching Children Mathematics. February, 2003
 Some Advice for
Working with Algorithms

• Watch your language

• Don’t lie
• If you don’t like the numbers, change them

James C. Brickwedde
Project for Elementary Mathematics
Hamline University, St. Paul. MN
Focus Algorithms
Partial Sums
Partial Products
Area Model for Multiplication
Partial Differences
Trade First or Ready-Set-Go
Partial Quotients
 735
+ 246
Add the hundreds (700 + 200)
900
Add the tens (30 + 40)
70
Add the ones (5 + 6)
+11
Add the partial sums
(900 + 70 + 11) 981
 356
+ 247
Add the hundreds (300 + 200)
500
Add the tens (50 + 40)
90
Add the ones (6 + 7) +13
Add the partial sums
(500 + 90 + 13)
603
 429
+ 989
1300
100
+ 18
1418
Generalizability
What about decimals?
In what ways would Partial Sums help
students be able to do AND understand
addition? What mathematics do they
take into further study of mathematics?
What do you notice about:
• Efficiency/Complexity
• Ease of Accurate Use
• Transparency
 56
82
80 X 50 4,000
80 X 6 480
2 X 50 100
2X6 + 12
Add the partial
products 4,592
 52
76
70 X 50 3,500
70 X 2 140
6 X 50 300
6X2
+ 12
Add the partial
products 3,952
A Geometrical Representation
of Partial Products 52
(Area Model)
46
50 2
2,000
40 2000 80 80
300
6 300 12 12
2,392
Generalizability
What about decimals?
Do You Remember Quadratic
Equations?
(x + 2) (x + 3) = y
X2 + 3x + 2x + 6 = y
X2 + 5x + 6 = y
FOIL?
Think about the formula for the
area of a rectangle

(x + 2) (x + 3) = y

l x w =A
 x + 2

x
+
3

l x w = (x + 2) (x + 3) = A
 X + 2

Combining
X x2 2x Algebra and
+ Geometry
3 3x 6

A = (x + 2) (x + 3)
= X2 + 3x + 2x + 6
= X2 + 5x + 6
In what ways would Partial Products or the
Area Model for Multiplication help
students be able to do AND understand
multiplication? What mathematics do they
take into further study of mathematics?
What do you notice about:
• Efficiency/Complexity
• Ease of Accurate Use
• Transparency
Students complete all regrouping
before doing the subtraction. This
11 13
can be done from left to right (or 6 12
right to left). In this case, we need
to regroup a 100 into 10 tens. The 72 3
45 9
7 hundreds is now 6 hundreds and
the 2 tens is now 12 tens.

2 64
Next, we need to regroup a 10 into
10 ones. The 12 tens is now 11
tens and the 3 ones is now 13
ones.
Now, we complete the subtraction. We have 6
hundreds minus 4 hundreds, 11 tens minus 5 tens,
and 13 ones minus 9 ones.
 9 12 13 16
7 10 8 14
80 2 94 6
27 4 56 8
5 28 3 78
 736
– 245
Subtract the hundreds
(700 – 200) 500
Subtract the tens 10
1
(30 – 40)
Subtract the ones
(6 – 5)

Add the partial differences

(500 + (-10) + 1) 491
 412
– 335
Subtract the hundreds
(400 – 300) 100
Subtract the tens 20
3
(10 – 30)
Subtract the ones
(2 – 5)

Add the partial differences

(100 + (-20) + (-3)) 77
Generalizability
What about decimals?
How might Trade First or Partial
Differences change students ability to do
AND understand subtraction? What
mathematics do they take into further
study of mathematics?
What do you notice about:
• Efficiency/Complexity
• Ease of Accurate Use
• Transparency
 19 R3
I know
10 x 12 will
12 2 31
work…

1 20 10
Add the partial
1 11
quotients, and
Students begin 60 5
recordpartial
choosing the
quotient along
quotients that
51
theywith the
recognize!
remainder.
48 4
3 19
 85 R6
32 2726
1 60 0 50
Compare the 1126
partial quotients
used here to the
800 25
ones that you 326
chose!
3 20 10
6 85
Generalizabiity
What about decimals?
How might Partial Quotients help students
do AND understand division? What
mathematics do they take into further
study of mathematics?
What do you notice about:
• Efficiency/Complexity
• Ease of Accurate Use
• Transparency
 Connections with Rational
Numbers
. . . many students view fractions, decimals, and
percents as three isolated topics, connected only
because they are asked at some point to convert
among them.
If they learn about these concepts as different but
equivalent representations of rational numbers,
they have a better chance of understanding how
to use any representation of a rational number
more effectively.
Make Connections Transparent

“Given a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces and told to put

them together, no doubt we would ask to see the
picture they make . . . Without the picture, we
probably wouldn’t want to bother with the puzzle.
Ironically, this situation is very much like what we ask
young people to do all the time in school.
To students, the typical curriculum presents an
endless array of facts and skills that are
unconnected, fragmented, and disjointed…”
Beane, 1991
 Rational Numbers

express as parts to
powers of ten
Fractions Percent
Decimals
used in

Measurement

SciMathMN Minnesota K-12 Mathematics Framework, 1998

The most basic idea in mathematics is that
math makes sense to ALL students.
John Van De Walle
Algorithms
Helping children become comfortable with algorithmic and
procedural thinking is essential to their growth and
development in mathematics and as everyday problem
solvers.
Extensive research shows the main problem with teaching
standard algorithms too early is that children then use
the algorithms as substitutes for thinking and common
sense and they don’t watch their place value language.
Other algorithms might be used for extended periods of
time to make mathematics more transparent and
accessible to more students. This also gives a firmer
foundation for exploring mathematics in later years.
 Focus Algorithms
Focus algorithms are powerful, relatively efficient,
and easy to understand and learn.
Students may use various algorithms or strategies in
solving problems.
When students have not settled on a particular
algorithm or are making errors in computation
teachers may encourage the use of the focus
algorithm for each operation.
The aim of this approach is to promote flexibility while
ensuring that all students know at least one
reliable method for each operation.

Everyday Mathematics Operations Handbook. SRA/McGraw Hill ©2002, p. 5

 A Special Thank You
to Sue Wygant, Teacher on Special
Assignment, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage
Schools, for developing the algorithms for
staff and parent use as part of a
Mathematics Partnership Grant provided
by the Minnesota Department of Education

Adapted and used with permission.

Alternative algorithms have been shown to increase
student understanding and accuracy. The following
research and professional literature resources are among
those that support the use of alternative algorithms:
Bass, Hyman. “Computational Fluency, Algorithms, and Mathematical Proficiency: One
Mathematician’s Perspective.” Teaching Children Mathematics. February 2003. NCTM.
www.nctm.org
Heibert, James. Making Sense: Teaching and Learning Mathematics with Understanding.
1997. Heinemann. www.heinemann.com
Ma, Liping. Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. 1999. Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates. www.erlbaum.com
National Research Council. Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics. 2001.
National Academy Press. www.nap.edu
National Research Council. Helping Children Learn Mathematics. 2002. National Academy
Press. www.nap.edu
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Curriculum Focal Points for PK-8: A
Quest for Coherence. 2006. NCTM www.nctm.org
_____. Teaching and Learning Algorithms in School Mathematics. NCTM 1998 Yearbook.
NCTM www.nctm.org
_____. Teaching Children Mathematics – Focus Issue on Computational Fluency. February
2003. NCTM www.nctm.org