Students should be encouraged to focus on a big mathematical idea and to look for connections between problems and solution strategies. This unified view suggests that the students are developing computational fluency with fractions.

Experiments in strategy instruction for mathematics have been conducted using three models (direct instruction, self-instruction, and guided learning) applied to the tasks of computation and word problem solving. Results have implications for effective strategy instruction for learning disabled students. It is recommended that strategy instruction…

The problem of innumeracy in general and at the primary school level in particular is attributed to a structuralist design of instruction emphasizing an algorithmic approach to arithmetic. Offered is an alternative learning approach developing arithmetic as an informal context-bound activity tied to mental arithmetic and estimation. (MDH)