Utilizing a Collaborative Cross Number Puzzle Game to Develop the Computing Ability of Addition and Subtraction

While addition and subtraction is a key mathematical skill for young children, a typical activity for them in classrooms involves doing repetitive arithmetic calculation exercises. In this study, we explore a collaborative way for students to learn these skills in a technology-enabled way with wireless computers. Two classes, comprising a total of 52 students in Grade 4 (ages 10 or 11) participated in the study. They used the Group Scribbles software to run an adapted version of the “Cross Number Puzzle” that was designed with the “feedback” mechanism to assist students’ problem solving. In one class, students played the game individually and in the other class, students played the game collaboratively. The low-ability students in the collaborative class were found to have made the most significant progress in arithmetic skills through playing this game. Three dominant interactive collaboration patterns, one contributing to productive interactions and two to less productive interactions, were also identified in the students’ collaboration.

[1]  Elizabeth Fennema,et al.  Models of Problem Solving: A Study of Kindergarten Children's Problem-Solving Processes. , 1993 .

[2]  D. Carnine,et al.  Elaborated Corrective Feedback and the Acquisition of Reasoning Skills: A Study of Computer-Assisted Instruction , 1987, Exceptional children.

[3]  Joyce M. Alexander,et al.  Interacting Effects of Goal Setting and Self- or Other-Referenced Feedback on Children's Development of Self-Efficacy and Cognitive Skill within the Taiwanese Classroom. , 2000 .

[4]  Nyit Chin Keh,et al.  Students' Use of Teacher Feedback During Badminton Instruction. , 1992 .

[5]  Daryl Siedentop,et al.  Developing teaching skills in physical education , 1976 .

[6]  Muthu Kumar,et al.  Educational Technology , 2019, Lean in the Classroom.

[7]  James M. Moser,et al.  The Acquisition of Addition and Subtraction Concepts in Grades One through Three. , 1984 .

[8]  R. W. Kulhavy,et al.  Feedback in written instruction: The place of response certitude , 1989 .

[9]  Robert J. Stevens,et al.  Advances in research on teaching , 1981 .

[10]  D. Carnine,et al.  Instructional Design in Mathematics for Students with Learning Disabilities , 1997, Journal of learning disabilities.

[11]  D. A. Carey,et al.  NUMBER SENTENCES: LINKING ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION WORD PROBLEMS AND SYMBOLS , 1991 .

[12]  Richard A. Schmidt,et al.  Motor Learning and Performance , 1991 .

[13]  Karen C. Fuson,et al.  Research on whole number addition and subtraction. , 1992 .

[14]  Chen-Lin C. Kulik,et al.  The Instructional Effect of Feedback in Test-Like Events , 1991 .

[15]  V. Walle,et al.  Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. Third Edition. , 1998 .

[16]  Chee-Kit Looi,et al.  Collaborative activities enabled by GroupScribbles (GS): An exploratory study of learning effectiveness , 2010, Comput. Educ..

[17]  Richard A. Schmidt,et al.  Motor learning & performance : from principles to practice , 1991 .

[18]  Lyn D. English,et al.  Children's Problem Posing within Formal and Informal Contexts. , 1998 .

[19]  Thomas A. Romberg,et al.  Teaching children to add and subtract , 1995 .

[20]  Frederick William Milson,et al.  An introduction to group work skill , 1973 .

[21]  Vicki Blum Cohen,et al.  A Reexamination of Feedback in Computer-Based Instruction: Implications for Instructional Design. , 1985 .

[22]  Gregory C. Sales.  Designing feedback for CBI: matching feedback to the learner and learner outcomes , 1988 .

[23]  N. Balacheff,et al.  Computer-Based Learning Environments in Mathematics , 1996 .

[24]  Thomas P. Carpenter,et al.  Problem Structure and First-Grade Children's Initial Solution Processes for Simple Addition and Subtraction Problems , 1981 .