Insight Into the Child’s Mathematical Understanding

Student Interview
Students Name
University Affiliation
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Student Interview
A. Background information
In this case scenario, the student undertaking the mathematics problem-solving test is named Adam. Adam is a third-grade student and is eight years old.
B. Describe in detail how the student solved the tasks.
Adam solved the first and third questions by doing a simple subtraction. The second question was also a simple addition. The two sets of question four were resolved by finding the missing digit. The fifth question was determined by multiplying the numbers given, while the sixth question was resolved by counting the elements presented. Overall, this test required the use of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and counting mathematical concepts. The exercise captured all the basic mathematical operations that Adam needed to grasp.
C. How would you characterize this student’s mathematical understanding of numbers? What are his areas of strength? What misconceptions did the student reveal?
For most students, having the ability to efficiently carry out all the mathematical operations is a tall order. Adams's mathematical understanding of numbers can be characterized as excellent and impressive. He executed the mathematical operations with quite some degree of relative ease, which made it all the more interesting. It was interesting to see how he easily solved mathematical problems. He was clear and quite sure of what he was doing. His main strength was the ability to do some quick mental calculations before getting to the finer details of accuracy.
Additionally, he had great mental strategies that enabled him to solve mathematical problems correctly. Once he did with his mind and arrived at a rough figure, he would then embark on now working on the accuracy of his final answer. Another strength of his was his relative calmness before embarking on solving the questions. He displays impressive composure, which is a great bonus when dealing with mathematical questions; it increases focus by relieving tension.
One noticeable misconception about Adam is his belief that counting using his fingers was the most reliable way of doing it. There was a clear overreliance on using his fingers in counting, and he seemed to be quite certain that it was the only sure way of obtaining the correct answer. This was mainly observed in the first set of question number four. He had to use his fingers to find the missing digit. This was quite tiresome and time-consuming for him. Additionally, the use of fingers in counting sometimes slows down the cognitive ability to tackle these numerical questions. Having such a misconception is a clear sign that ...