The Practice of Arithmetic in Liberian Schools

The examination of arithmetic practices in schools has proven to be as problematic as research on arithmetic in everyday settings described by Lave in the Introduction to this Symposium. Previous American research on schools, and cross-cultural research on cognition, provide incomplete but suggestive models for examining the practice of arithmetic in classrooms. Data from research in elementary classrooms in Liberia may be used to demonstrate that a contextually based study of arithmetic practice gives new insight as to how children actually accomplish some mastery of the school curriculum.