This investigation sought to determine the effect of emphasizing mathematical structure in the acquisition of computational skills by seven- and eight-year-olds. The meaningful development-of-structure approach emphasized closure, commutativity, associativity, and the identity element of addition; the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction; and place value. The control groups essentially used drill-type activities. The subjects were students from a middle class elementary school in Tampa, Florida who had the poorest performances on pretests. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data; results favored the experimental group. (Author/LS)