Guest guest Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Hi there, Just looking for a little advice on teaching an 8 year old subtraction. At the moment his addition is doing really well, in fact he whizzes through these sums! However, when presented with a subtraction sum, he goes into auto pilot and tries to add the numbers together. I know this is down to not paying attention to the sign, but I am not sure how to go about changing this. We have tried many different things... he can easily identify + and - , but even when we do this immediately before the sum, he will still add. We have tried using different colours to highlight the sign, tried formatting the sum in many different ways, but unless we heavily prompt him form the start to take away then he will add. Even if we don't leave any extra cubes out, therefore preventing him from adding anything on, he gets frustrated and starts looking for blocks to add on, or sits and waits as if he is waiting for us to give him cubes to continue! He is still using counters when doing his sums (single cubes/rods representing 10/ 100 square). Any suggestions are very welcome!! Thanks in advance, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Hi , the way we taught addition and subtraction is by counting up and counting down. Addition, for example 2+1= would be taught as 2 count up 1, he would add the appropriate number of hash marks beside or under the second number and count up. He learned it quite quickly in contrast to subtraction as well. We taught the skill of counting up and down separately and before addition and subtraction. We use counters only to translate a problem that is heard to get an answer. Good luck, Dina [ ] teaching subtraction Hi there, Just looking for a little advice on teaching an 8 year old subtraction. At the moment his addition is doing really well, in fact he whizzes through these sums! However, when presented with a subtraction sum, he goes into auto pilot and tries to add the numbers together. I know this is down to not paying attention to the sign, but I am not sure how to go about changing this. We have tried many different things... he can easily identify + and - , but even when we do this immediately before the sum, he will still add. We have tried using different colours to highlight the sign, tried formatting the sum in many different ways, but unless we heavily prompt him form the start to take away then he will add. Even if we don't leave any extra cubes out, therefore preventing him from adding anything on, he gets frustrated and starts looking for blocks to add on, or sits and waits as if he is waiting for us to give him cubes to continue! He is still using counters when doing his sums (single cubes/rods representing 10/ 100 square). Any suggestions are very welcome!! Thanks in advance, List moderators: Jenn - ABAqueen1@... Steph - Stephhulshof@... Post message: Subscribe: -subscribe Unsubscribe: -unsubscribe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 You can errorlessly run discrimination starting very simply: 7 - 5 = 12 or 2 (this gets expanded and standardized test typically uses only three to four multiple choice answers anyway) And having him circle or hand you the answer then write it down as a problem. You can also run match-to-samples of answers giving the - /+ symbols as targets. 7 __ 5 = 12 and 7 __ 5 = 2 Identifying a symbol, much like a word, does not mean they have a complete understanding of it's meaning. In the 7-5= example you're going to only reinforce the correct answer so if he selects 12 he won't get reinforced but it he selects 2 he would. Extinction/reinforcement will formulate the meaning. All of the math facts are just that --facts. They don't change so, in my mind, teach the answers and be more concerned with fluency of the basics: 7-5 will always be 2. Just give him the answer and reinforce it. You can go back and illustrate why it is so using blocks, etc. The more complicated math requires this fluency and I do believe the basics can be taught as discrimination. A mom's two cents, > > Hi there, > Just looking for a little advice on teaching an 8 year old > subtraction. At the moment his addition is doing really well, in > fact he whizzes through these sums! However, when presented with a > subtraction sum, he goes into auto pilot and tries to add the > numbers together. I know this is down to not paying attention to the > sign, but I am not sure how to go about changing this. > We have tried many different things... he can easily identify + and - > , but even when we do this immediately before the sum, he will still > add. We have tried using different colours to highlight the sign, > tried formatting the sum in many different ways, but unless we > heavily prompt him form the start to take away then he will add. > Even if we don't leave any extra cubes out, therefore preventing him > from adding anything on, he gets frustrated and starts looking for > blocks to add on, or sits and waits as if he is waiting for us to > give him cubes to continue! He is still using counters when doing > his sums (single cubes/rods representing 10/ 100 square). > Any suggestions are very welcome!! > Thanks in advance, > > > > > > > > > > > List moderators: Jenn - ABAqueen1@c... > Steph - Stephhulshof@a... > > Post message: > Subscribe: -subscribe > Unsubscribe: -unsubscribe > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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