The goal of this article is to contribute some ideas to aid with the teaching of addition.
The most basic experience of adding up is combining groups of physical objects, that is how most students see and experience addition.
Normally, the process involves collecting two sets of objects and counting how many objects there are in total. One of the best examples would be building two towers of cubes, and then counting up every single block. This method can be too mixed up, particularly for students who are showing signs of attention deficit disorder. If a student cannot hold their attention for the whole duration of the activity, blocks will be put off-centered, additional blocks will be put top by top of the other creating a mixed up, and finally, the student arrives at the wrong answer.
In totality, this long process could mean that if the student does not master the concept quickly, they are not likely to make progress at all. Moreover, it is not easy to extend this method into a calculation that can be approached mentally: for instance, try to imagine two large sets of objects in your head, and then count them all up. Even for adults, this is nearly impossible.
So, what is the best alternative? The use of simple drawing is. Jottings are a more useful substitute to the process described above. To demonstrate: write out the addition problem on a sheet of paper, and next to the first number, jot down the appropriate number of tallies (for instance, for the number 5, draw 5 tallies). Ask your student to predict how many tallies you will need to draw by the other number in the problem. When they come to the correct answer, ask them to draw the tallies. To finish with, ask how many tallies they have drawn altogether. This technique is a much easier way of bringing together 2 groups, is less likely to be subject to mechanical error, and is better suited to students with poor focus. It also encourages the student to associate between what the written sum actually says, and why they are drawing a certain number of tallies.
By: Grace M. Ruiz | Teacher III | Balut Elementary School | Orion, Bataan
