The use of drawings as problem-solving tools in simple addition problems and missing addend problems

The investigation for this study was conducted in a school where pupils aged seven to nine were having difficulty solving mathematical issues. 27 pupils were given a few simple arithmetic problems before being interviewed individually to determine and understand the challenges that their teachers had suggested their pupils were having with mathematics. A quantity was increased by or combined with another quantity to generate a total in each of the challenges. The amounts were modest natural numbers, not exceeding 20. The purpose of the study was to figure out how pupils use drawings as problem-solving tools in addition problems and missing addend problems. The results found that for a child with a limited understanding of how to construct and use a number sentence, drawing could have been an excellent way for a child to gain conceptual knowledge about the part-whole relationship in the problem. Limiting the use of drawing to counting clearly inhibited the child’s conceptual understanding. Copyright © 2020 International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education.