Studying change processes in primary school arithmetic problem solving: issues in combining methodologies

Description/Abstract

In studying changes to children’s successful strategies while solving arithmetic tasks with primary school children, two methodological approaches were combined: the microgenetic method and the clinical method of interviewing. This paper discusses the ways in which these approaches were combined in supporting the realisation of the project. The paper presents outcomes which illustrate the type of changes observed at the various levels of children’s problem solving activity within a specific type of addition task, and argues that the particular methodological combination is suitable and effective in studying the process of procedural and conceptual change in mathematics problem solving.