Relationship between mental computation and mathematical reasoning

Here we present the ‘Abstract‘ of the corresponding paper by Ramazan Gürbüz & Emrullah Erdem | Bronwyn Frances Ewing (Reviewing Editor).

Abstract

Mental computation and mathematical reasoning are two intertwined top-level mental activities. In deciding which strategy to use when doing mental computing, mathematical reasoning is essential. From this reciprocal influence, the current study aims at examining the relationship between mental computation and mathematical reasoning. The study was carried out with 118 fifth-grade students (11–12-year-olds). As data collection tool, “mathematical reasoning test” and “mental computation test” were developed and used. In analyzing the data, Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) between participants’ scores of each test was computed. Some sample student responses to some questions in both tests were also presented directly. Evidence was found that there is a significant positive correlation between mental computation and mathematical reasoning. It is noteworthy that rather than exposing students to familiar classical problems, students need to be enabled to deal with exceptional/non-routine problems, and especially young children should be encouraged to do mental computing in order for developing both skills. On the other hand, students must be asked to write the strategies they use and on which grounds they preferred them while solving the problems.

Public Interest Statement

Mental computation and mathematical reasoning are two crucial skills that are essential for cultivating higher order thinking because they help individuals realize relationships among numbers while increasing their number sense. Mental computing may be needed not only at school but also in daily life since there is an evidence that daily mathematics in which four basic operations take part mainly is suggested to be more prone to human’s natural creativity and reasoning. The importance and need of mathematical reasoning on mental computation was referred before by many researches but there is no statistical evidence of relationship between these two skills in the researches. It is thought that present study will fill an important gap in the literature revealing the relationship between mental computation and mathematical reasoning of fifth-grade students as both statistical and qualitatively.

(Link for the paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1212683)