Developmental and contextual effects on children's addition strategies

Developmental and contextual effects on children's addition strategies were assessed in two experiments. The first experiment examined developmental differences in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade children's strategy use during a nonschool-related task, a board game. The children showed a developmental progression in their strategy use during the game as would be predicted by Siegler's strategy-choice model, with children overall showing multiple and variable strategy use, and a progression toward more sophisticated strategy use with age. The second experiment compared the game context with a comparable school-related math context in first graders. Three testing sessions separated by about a week, included the game, aural math problems, and a series of diagnostics designed to measure verbal IQ and working memory. The children showed great variability in their strategy use between the two contexts and were faster and more accurate during the game. Within each context, verbal IQ and working memory displayed some interesting relationships with strategy use.