Herbert P. Ginsburg

The Development of Mental Addition as a Function of Schooling and Culture

This study investigated the development of mental addition in schooled and unschooled children and adults from a traditional mercantile culture (Dioula, Ivory Coast) and one which is technologically advanced (American). Subjects at three age levels were given a series of mental addition problems; both the accuracy of response and strategies were analyzed. By adulthood, the unschooled Dioulas were as accurate as both schooled Dioulas and Americans. The strategies employed by unschooled individuals at all ages include the use of common number facts and, from 11 to 12 years onward, invented regrouping strategies. The predominant strategy of school children after the age of I 1 or 12 is the mental deployment of the standard written algorithm. The results are interpreted as showing that schooled and unschooled individuals in these cultures develop different but increasingly effective and adaptive methods for dealing with mental addition problems.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE CONCERNING WRITTEN ARITHMETIC: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY

Abstract This study is concerned with the manner in which Western mathematics is assimilated by children raised in traditional African cultures. It was predicted that after an initial period of difficulty in learning school arithmetic, African children (Baoule and Dioula from the Ivory Coast) acquire basic concepts, develop invented strategies, and make errors similar to those of American children. Further, it was predicted that Dioula children, since they are members of a commercial culture, perform at a somewhat higher level than the Baoule, members of a farming culture which does not seem to stress computational activity. To investigate these hypotheses, American, Baoule, and Dioula children at two age levels were given a variety of arithmetic problems involving basic skills (e.g., reading numbers), number knowledge (e.g., place value), and calculationl abilities (e.g., written computation). The results showed that, in general, older African and American children (fifth-and sixth-graders) were quite si...