THE COGNITIVE-COMPLEXITY OF LEARNING AND DOING ARITHMETIC

A theory of the cognitive processes involved in doing and learning place value arithmetic is proposed. The theory is embodied in a computer model that simulates the learning of multicolumn subtraction under one-on-one tutoring. The model is used to measure the relative difficulty of two different methods for subtraction, with either a conceptual or a procedural representation. The model predicts that regrouping is more difficult to learn than an alternative method, particularly in a conceptual representation, a result that contradicts current practice in U.S. schools.