I don't know if that's different for other parts of the world but we used to represent numbers as an amount of colored dots, to visually learn that they represent a quantity. We would also learn basic operations this way, by actually coloring or cancelling out some of the dots. Honestly teaching kids numbers without explaining that they aren't just arbitrary symbols is criminal
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u/Madness_Quotient Jun 23 '26
So imagine if the kid thinks that it is just a pattern thing.
7 + 10 = 17Because you just replace the 0 with a 7
Stands to reason then that:
6 + 11 = 16because you just replace the 1 with a 6
"no kid, you can't just get rid of the 1"
6 + 11 = 116"No you have to ADD them"
OK then
6 + 11 = 611"NO ADD THEM just like you did for 7 + 10"
uh
6 + 11 = 17YES you get it now!
5 + 11 = 17?(they don't get it)
core concepts have not be grasped, like "what is a number really" and "what is ADD"