The Cuisenaire Gattegno Method Of Teaching Mathematics
As a result, the word ‘process’ must refer to the fixed and conventional procedures which we use when dealing with large numbers. It involves such procedures as ‘borrowing’ and ‘paying back’ in subtractions, and ‘carrying’ in the other operations—all those matters implied under the heading of ‘mechanical arithmetic’. In many schools at the present time, mechanical arithmetic is introduced almost as soon as the child has mastered the minimum of number facts required. He learns to count and proceeds almost immediately to addition, followed in turn by subtraction, multiplication and, finally, division. His success and speed are usually relative to his memory of the number facts involved in the particular process. This approach makes co-ordination throughout the various grades important, so that the same process is maintained from grade to grade. With this end in view many teachers have searched for years, and changed their minds often, in an effort to find the simplest and easiest process to follow for each type of sum. As a result, a large proportion of the teaching time in arithmetic, from infant grades onwards, is spent drilling number facts for use in a process which in turn must also be drilled until it becomes mechanical. The end result, furthermore, is that the child knows only one process for each of the basic operations. The Cuisenaire-Gattegno approach is fundamentally different and may be summarized as follows:
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