‘Groupitizing’

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

‘Groupitizing’ refers to the observation that visually grouped arrays can be accurately enumerated much faster than can unstructured arrays. Previous research suggests that visual grouping allows participants to draw on arithmetic abilities and possibly use mental calculations to enumerate grouped arrays quickly and accurately. Here, we address how subitizing might be involved in finding the operands for mental calculations in grouped dot arrays. We investigated whether participants can use multiple subitizing processes to enumerate both the number of dots and the number of groups in a grouped array. We found that these multiple subitizing processes can take place within 150 ms and that dots and groups seem to be subitized in parallel and with equal priority. Implications for research on mechanisms of groupitizing are discussed.

Read all about it: HERE

Building fluency but with improved cards

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Building fluency in multiplication is important but the old fashioned flash cards are not the way to go. So here is a link to two free sets of improved cards to use with your student. One uses subitizing and the other set uses arrays to make things clear for them.

Read all about it: HERE

The power of estimation

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

Estimation is a critical skill. We use it every day. When you pay your monthly bills you probably do not add them up to the last penny but rather round them and estimate if you have enough money in your bank account. When you make a roadtrip you estimate how much gas you’ll need and when you go to the grocery store you estimate how much money you’ll nee. So today we link to a good article from Thomas Courtney on Edutopia with strategies to teach students this important skill.

Read all about it: HERE

An overview of Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

With such a lack of awareness about dyscalculia it seemed a good idea to link to a wonderful paper, written by Matthew Thomas Michaelson from the Queensland University of Technology, that gives a great overview where he defines dyscalculia, considers
the origins of dyscalculia in psychological, biological, and pedagogical
contexts, describes the criteria required to diagnose students with dyscalculia, and delineates practical methods and instructional designs that can
be implemented in the classroom to address the specific learning needs of
dyscalculic learners

Read all about it: HERE

How Children Learn about Numbers

Dyscalculia: News from the web:

See the wonderful explanation from Kelly Mix, here is a quote:

The thing about number is it’s fairly difficult to “see.” Think about trying to explain to a visitor from space what we mean by “two.” You might point to two mittens, two cookies, and two trees, saying “these are all two.” This is a good approach, but there is so much detail and information in each of these kinds of objects, that it’s hard to focus on the quantity. Partly that’s because the “two-ness” is held by the sets of things, rather than by the things themselves; each mitten by itself is not “two.”

Read all about it: HERE