Ann Margaret Heirdsfield Summary

The article I read is titled “Teaching Mental Computation Strategies in the Primary Grades”. The article takes place in Australia at a primary school. The author, Ann Margaret Heirdsfield, teaches math education for both undergraduate and post graduate education programs. Heirdsfield’s main focus is involving young children in math. The two teachers, Pam and Sue, teach students age six to eight. Heirdsfield gave Pam and Sue some research literature about mathematical computation to study for the first quarter. The teachers and author also interviewed each student to see how they were doing their math problems. The second term Heirdsfield worked with the teachers to come up with a curriculum in math based on what the student’s demonstrated they knew about math. After the third term

The article did give me so excellent ideas of how to help the students. I really liked how the author broke down the different methods on how to teach mental computation. By doing this it allowed me to have a better understanding of what Heirdsfield was talking about. I agree with her views of encouraging students to explore the different methods. I also agree with her views of having the children talk to each other about what they came up with. The view of her encouraging the teachers to encourage the students to explore and talk to each other stood out to me the most. The concept map was a really good idea too. It shows the teacher what the students need more help with and what they already know. The one thing I would change is interviewing the students more often. I feel by interviewing the students more often the teachers will have a better understanding of how the students are getting their answers. When the teachers interview the students more often the teacher can also see that the students are truly grasping the concepts being taught. The article overall is a very good