IJSME - online first article

A new (online first) article has been published by International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, called Number Sense Strategies Used by Pre-Service Teachers in Taiwan. The article was written by Der-Ching Yang, R.E. Reys and B.J. Reys.

In this interesting article, the researchers describe an examination of strategies and misconceptions regarding number sense with 280 pre-service elementary teachers from Taiwan. In the test, these pre-service teachers responded to a series of real-life problems. In the following, I quote the abstract:

About one-fifth of the pre-service teachers applied number sense-based
strategies (such as using benchmarks appropriately or recognizing the
number magnitude) while a majority of pre-service teachers relied on
rule-based methods. This finding is consistent with earlier studies in
Taiwan that fifth, sixth, and eighth grade students tended to rely
heavily on written methods rather than using number sense-based
strategies. This study documents that the performance of pre-service
elementary teachers on number sense is low. If we want to improve
elementary students’ knowledge and use of number sense, then action
should be taken to improve the level of their future teachers’ number
sense.