Children, algorithm and the decimal numeral system

Abstract

A large number of studies in Mathematics Education approach some possible problems in the study of algorithms in the early school years of arithmetic teaching. However, this discussion is not exhausted. In this feature, this article presents the results of a research which proposed to investigate if the arithmetic’s teaching, with emphasis in the fundamental operation’s algorithm, cooperate to build the mathematics knowledge, specifically of the Decimal Numeral System. In order to achieve this purpose, we interviewed, using the Piaget Critique Clinical Method, twenty students from a public school. The result’s analysis indicates that they mechanically reproduce the regular algorithm’s techniques without notice the relations between the techniques and the principle and the Decimal Numeral System’s properties.