4 Cognitive style in mathematics

Introduction

The designers of maths curricula across the world seem to be moving to some simi-
lar conclusions. One of which is that the curriculum must encourage flexible thinking.
Presumably this is to encourage good problem-solving skills in order to complement
good computational skills. So, as discussed previously, this chapter will be about the
style of the curriculum rather than its content.
In the UK, despite this goal, there is evidence to suggest that there is still an over-
reliance on teaching formulas and procedures. For example, the 2006 Ofsted Report1
‘Evaluation: Maths provision for 14 to 19-year olds’, noted that: ‘Even staff with good
subject knowledge often had a restricted range of teaching strategies and Maths
became an apparently endless series of algorithms for them, rather than a coherent
and inter-connected body of knowledge.’
And in 2011, the Ofsted Report,2 ‘Good practice in primary mathematics’, noted
that:

In lessons and in interviews with inspectors, pupils often chose the traditional
algorithms over other methods. When encouraged, most showed flexibility in
their thinking and approaches, enabling them to solve a variety of problems as
well as calculate accurately.

In general terms there are still negative perceptions of maths today, but the 2017/
18 Ofsted Report emphasised the importance of maths (and English) and then offered
some words of caution on how maths is taught:

Getting the basics of English and mathematics right is clearly important for
young people entering the world of work. Far from being important just to
those who decide to follow an academic track, English and mathematics are
the 2 subjects with the most impact on employability that young people can
study.
Resit pass rates for maths are low, 19%. The impact of repeated ‘failure’ on
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students should not be underestimated. (See Chapter 7). Rather than creating the
perception that mathematics study in Further Education (post-16) is a punishment
for not getting a grade 4 at an earlier stage of education, it should instead be
pitched as a core part of vocational training. Learners should be able to appreciate
that improving their numeracy (and literacy) is about genuinely improving their
knowledge and their prospects for further training and employability, rather than
simply something to cram for in a test.

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 72 Cognitive style in mathematics

And a comment about schools:

In our first phase of curriculum research back in 2017, we found that school
leaders were focused on increasing performance measures, too often to the det-
riment of much else. Teaching to the test and narrowing the curriculum have
become all too common.

It seems that the situation of teaching formulas by cramming, at the expense of

developing an understanding of maths, has been prevalent for almost fifty years, for
example, in 1971 Skemp3 observed that:

The increasing efforts the student makes will inevitably use the only approach which
he knows, memorising. This produces a short-term effect, but no long-term reten-
tion. So further progress comes to a standstill, with anxiety and loss of self-esteem.

This is a problem, perhaps an understandable one. Procedures, algorithms, are very

attractive to both teachers and students, especially when there is an examination-
dominated ethos in an education system.
Usiskin,4 in 1998 listed the benefits and attraction of algorithms:

• Power: An algorithm applies to a class of problems.

• Reliability and accuracy: Done correctly, an algorithm always provides the correct
answer.
• Speed: An algorithm proceeds directly to the answer.

Many students collude with teachers in accepting a dominant use of algorithms. For
example, the mantra for dividing by a fraction, ‘Turn upside down and multiply’,
saves a lot of agony and effort in trying to understand the logic behind the procedure.
There is a seductive security in algorithms for the uncertain learner. For examples like
dividing by a fraction, I can understand why algorithms seduce, but that doesn’t
mean that I agree with an over-dependence on them!
Formulas, procedures and accurate and swift recall of facts will lead to a version
of success in number work, but countries need problem solvers as well as computa-
tionally adept pupils (particularly when calculators and computers are readily avail-
able). And the situation that mathematical long-term memory can be weak in learners
doesn’t help. One of the most frequent comments I get from parents is, ‘She learned
this last night, but had forgotten it by this morning’.
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Two cognitive styles

Several researchers have suggested that there are two styles of thinking for maths,
extremes at the ends of a continuum. Ideally learners should be able to move appropri-
ately between styles as they solve problems. Back in the mid-1980s, two American col-
leagues, John Bath, Dwight Knox and I studied cognitive styles, which they had labelled
‘inchworm’ and ‘grasshopper’.5 Grasshoppers are holistic, intuitive and resist docu-
menting their methods and procedures. Inchworms are formulaic, procedural, sequen-
tial and need to document. The two styles are described and compared in Table 4.1.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Cognitive style in mathematics 73

Table 4.1 Cognitive styles of the inchworm and the grasshopper

Inchworm Grasshopper

First 1. Focuses on the parts and 1. Overviews, holistic, puts

approach to details. together.
a problem 2. Looks at the numbers and facts 2. Looks at the numbers and facts
to select a suitable formula or to estimate an answer, or narrow
procedure. down the range of answers.
Uses controlled exploration.
This is far more cerebral than
guessing.
Solving the 3. Formula, procedure oriented. 3. Answer oriented.
problem 4. Constrained focus. Uses one 4. Flexible focus. Uses a range of
method. methods.
5. Works in serially ordered steps, 5. Often works back from a trial
usually forward. answer.
6. Uses numbers exactly as given 6. Adjusts, breaks down/builds up
(numerically literal). numbers to make the calculation
easier.
7. More comfortable with paper 7. Rarely documents method. Per-
and pen. Documents method. forms calculations mentally (and
intuitively).
Checking 8. Unlikely to check or evaluate 8. Likely to appraise and evaluate
and evaluat- answers. If a check is done it answer against original estimate.
ing answers will be by the same procedure/ Checks by an alternative
method. method/procedure.
9. Often does not understand pro- 9. Good understanding of number,
cedures or values of numbers. methods and relationships.
Works mechanically.

Learning style has recently been heavily criticised, but as a construct it is much
broader than cognitive style. I am confident that there is enough research to support
the existence of different cognitive styles.
The impact of this construct is often underestimated. It seems obvious that the
way that learners think will be a very critical factor in the way they learn and in the
way they are taught.
Kahneman6 (2011) in his book, ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’, described two modes of
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thinking, using a maths example, working out 17 × 24, to illustrate the modes:

System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no

sense of voluntary control. System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental
activities that demand it, including complex computations. The operations of
System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice
and concentration.

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 74 Cognitive style in mathematics

The concept of metacognition, sometimes explained as ‘thinking about thinking’, has

been recognised as a major contributor to success in teaching and learning. The
National Research Council of the USA published their findings and research into
‘How People Learn’.7 They summarise their research in just three key findings, the
third of which is:

The teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in

a variety of subject areas.

Hattie’s8 major study of research into what is effective in education found that meta-
cognitive strategies were very effective in improving learning. He also mentions,
within this context, the use of self-questioning and states that ‘the more varied the
instructional strategies throughout a lesson, the more students are influenced’. How-
ever, we must be wary of confusing learners with too much choice. This is
a pedagogy that needs care from teachers.
The three examples below illustrate cognitive styles in operation.

Cognitive style and computation

Cognitive style will influence how a learner uses numbers and the operations (+, –,
×, ÷).
Inchworms see numbers and the symbols for operations literally. In the example
below, 98 is seen only as 98, not as a number very close to 100. Indeed, if you ask
an inchworm to adjust 98 to an easier number they may not relate to that task and, if
they do try to answer, they may well say 76 or indeed any arbitrary number. They will
go into subtraction mode applying the subtraction rules automatically, probably with
little or no understanding of the maths behind the procedure (Figure 4.1).
If the question had been asked as mental arithmetic, then the load on short term
and working memories and in visualising the written process in the mind would be
significant. If the learner has those skills then the method is acceptable, even if not
efficient. It is often the case that a combination of factors will influence learning. Even
if the calculation is done on paper, then there is a need to organise the written work
accessibly.

3 12 10

430
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-98
332
Figure 4.1 Subtraction the inchworm way

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 Cognitive style in mathematics 75

The grasshopper will use his good sense of number values and the interrelation-
ships of operations.

• The 98 will be rounded up to 100 (by adding 2, though not necessarily done
consciously).
• The (simple) subtraction 430 – 100 gives 330.
• The grasshopper knows that this intermediate answer is smaller than the correct
answer (by 2).
• Adding 2 takes him to the correct answer of 332.
• A similar method adjusts both numbers:
• 98 is rounded up to 100 by adding 2.
• 2 is also added to 330 to make 332, so the difference between the two numbers
is the same.
• The subtraction, 432 – 100 gives the answer, 332.

The load on short-term and working memories is less. There is less need to visualise
the procedure in your mind. The method uses a good awareness of number values
and the four operations. The question, ‘Is the (intermediate) answer bigger or smal-
ler?’ guides the learner as to whether to add or subtract the 2.

Cognitive style and problem solving

The following example is used to illustrate the two cognitive styles.

Which stall at a fair raises £90, if the total raised is £500 and

tombola takes 34%

books take 11%
cakes take 23%
spinner takes 18%
crafts take 14% of the total?

An inchworm methodically calculates, starting at the top of the list and works
down through the percentages:

34x 500 ¼ 170

100
11x 500 ¼ 55
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100
23x 500 ¼ 115
100
18x 500 ¼ 90
100

The correct answer is the last one calculated, which suggests that the person who
created the question had anticipated the implications of the inchworm style and
made the learner work on four calculations.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 76 Cognitive style in mathematics

A grasshopper looks at the same question and writes ‘Spinner’. The teacher
asks, ‘Where is your working out?’ ‘Didn’t do any’ ‘So how did you do it?’ ‘Just
knew’. Maths (exam) culture in the UK would predict the reaction: ‘No working, no
marks’.
How the grasshopper did the question was to overview all the percentages and
see that among the percentages, only one was a multiple of 9 (£90). 18 is a multiple
of 9, so 18% must be the answer.
Is that explanation acceptable, even if documented? Teachers’ judgments can be
highly influential on a student’s cognitive style. Teachers are in a position where they
can sanction methods and cognitive style.

Cognitive style and shape and space problems

What is the area of the shaded part of Figure 4.2? (A written answer, with method, is
expected, or a verbal explanation.) I call this the ‘horse’ problem.
An inchworm with few mathematical skills may well simply count the squares.
The counting in ones strategy. A more mathematically sophisticated inchworm will
analyse the parts of the figure, seeing a triangle, a square and two thin rectangles.
Then, if he brings a knowledge of area to the problem, he may well calculate the area
of the triangle from the formula 1/2 × base × height and thus onto the square and the
rectangles.

Head=triangle area ¼ 1=2  4  4 ¼ 8

Body=square area ¼ 4  4 ¼ 16 subtotal 24
leg 1 area ¼ 4 subtotal 28
leg 2 area ¼ 4 total 32

The addition of the area of each part is

likely to be sequential and irrespective of any
number bonds for ten, as in adding a leg to
the body to make 20. Inchworms tend not to
overview or, indeed, look ahead.
On the positive side, the inchworm will be
able to document his method, quote formulae
and show that, even if he makes an error with
the calculation, he has knowledge of area
calculations.
The grasshopper may seek to redesign
Figure 4.2 What is the area of
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and simplify the problem. He will take an hol-

istic view, trying to put the parts together, so the shaded figure?
the triangle is seen as half of a 4 × 4 square.
The gap between the two legs is also half of a 4 × 4 square, so the triangle can
be used to fill that gap and make a 4 × 8 rectangle giving an area of 32. This
method is far more difficult for the pupil to document.
A test of thinking/cognitive style in maths is included in Steve Chinn’s diagnostic
companion volume More Trouble with Maths (3rd edition, 2020).

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 Cognitive style in mathematics 77

Cognitive styles and learning maths

There will be expectations that link to the cognitive style of pupils learning maths. An
example is that learners are expected to be able to estimate answers for simple
numerical calculations (grasshopper) and then use a procedure to calculate the exact
answer (inchworm). A more general expectation is that pupils show flexibility in the
way they handle maths. This expectation requires teachers to teach and encourage
metacognition and flexibility.
A flexible curriculum will include content which demands both the inchworm style
of thinking and the grasshopper style of thinking. Krutetskii (see also Chapter 1),
a psychologist and mathematician, specified flexibility of thinking as one of the key
requisites for being a good mathematician. The National Council of Teachers of
Maths (USA) also lists flexibility as one of the characteristics of good mathematicians.
This requirement seems to me to have face validity, that is, it just feels sensible and
right if we are to produce creative problem solvers. It is possible to survive maths as
an inchworm, though there are a number of essential prerequisite skills that are
needed to make this an effective style, for example, a good long-term memory for
sequential information and a good working memory to deal with multi-step calcula-
tions. It is less likely that a grasshopper will survive school maths, especially at
higher levels where documentation (in the UK system) is essential, but it is likely he
will be successful at ‘life’ maths. So, ultimately it may not be the end of the world in
everyday life if your maths thinking style is at either extreme, but in the school envir-
onment it will, inevitably, be more of a problem. That problem can impact on self-
efficacy and confidence. For an adult who can usually avoid some, if not all, maths it
is less critical if you are not a flexible thinker, but in general terms as a problem
solver it is going to be better if you can develop flexible thinking. All school subjects
teach more than just content. They bring different perspectives and teach different
ways of approaching and solving problems, different cognitive perspectives. So,
schools can help and, as ever, an awareness of the implications of everything you
teach and how you teach it is an important factor. It is back to ‘What else are you
teaching?’
Many modern maths curricula encourage pupils to share their different methods
and for teachers to present different methods for solving problems. This will require
good sales techniques from teachers, because some pupils will just not want to buy
into different methods because they think one method is enough and two or more
will be confusing. However, each method should illustrate another facet of the prob-
lem and, even if the pupil doesn’t adopt the new method, an exposure to a different
way of perceiving a problem should be beneficial.
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I have listed below some of the outcomes that a maths curriculum typically
expects of pupils. Where the text is plain, the outcome is inchworm biased, when
the text is italic, the outcome is more favourable to a grasshopper cognitive style.
Underlined text is not cognitive style specific. It is of interest that many of these
outcomes form part of the maths programmes targeted at those adult learners
who have failed to master maths during their school years. Is it more of the same
or an inevitable, unavoidable content for learning maths? If it is more of the same
can it be presented in a way that makes it learnable this time? It’s back to the
style of the curriculum again.

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 78 Cognitive style in mathematics

Learners should:

• have a sense of the size of a number and where it fits in the number system
• know by heart number facts such as number bonds (10), multiplication tables,
doubles and halves
• use what they know by heart to figure out answers mentally
• calculate accurately and efficiently, both mentally and with paper and pen, drawing
on a range of calculation strategies
• explain the methods and reasoning used using correct mathematical terms
• judge whether answers are reasonable and have strategies for checking them
where necessary
• recognise when it is appropriate to use a calculator and be able to do so (Is
a calculator a grasshopper? It just gives an answer and never explains its methods.)
• make sense of number problems, including non-routine problems, and recognise
the operations needed to solve them.

Some methods advocated by flexible maths programmes could be classified as

grasshopper, for example:

• Exploring all the pairs of numbers which add to make 10. (These are key facts.)
• Approaching mental addition by using the number bonds for ten, for example, 16
+ 7 can be processed as 16 + 4 + 3 and 22–7 as 22 – 2 – 5 = 15.
• The four times table facts can be retrieved by doubling the two times table facts.
This is an example of ay calculated as bcy, where a = bc.
• Learning how to add or subtract numbers such as 9, 19, 29 . . . or 11, 21, 31 . . .
by adding or subtracting 10, 20, 30 . . . then adjusting.
• Seeing easier numbers within other numbers, for example, 1.5 + 1.6 is calculated
as double 1.5 plus 0.1.
• Finding percentages by using key values, for example, by halving and quartering
and halving again, as in finding 12.5% of £36 by halving three times and in finding
75% of £300 by halving to get 50%, halving again to get 25% and adding to
obtain 75%. This is interrelating numbers, building up and breaking down num-
bers. These values (50%, 25%, 12.5%, 10%, 5%, 2% and 1%) are key values and
can help with estimations.

Some examples of maths topics and objectives that could be classified as inchworm
include:

•
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Knowing facts by heart. The (almost) exclusive reliance on long-term mathematical

memory, which is a varied ability across the population, to process algorithms. And
often without any understanding. My suspicion from informal surveys of many hun-
dreds of teachers is that the percentage of the population who can successfully rote
learn and retain the collection of basic multiplication facts is significantly below 50%.
• Find a small difference between a pair of numbers using counting. (This is only
practical for small numbers.)
• Using number lines for addition and subtraction.
• Using standard written methods for short multiplication. ‘Standard’ usually
infers methods that are well established methods that have been around for

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Cognitive style in mathematics 79

a long time. Such methods may be familiar to parents, even if some refreshing
of their memory for that method is needed. When new methods are introduced,
for example, the grid method for multiplication or chunking, there is
a possibility that parents become disenfranchised and can no longer help their
children.

Modern curricula often advocate a mixture of cognitive styles (without necessar-

ily articulating this as a policy). Such implications exist in the curriculum state-
ments, for example, in Eire, the Maths Curriculum9 of 1999 was structured to
‘enable the teacher to cater for individual differences in ability, previous learning
and learning style’ and in Hong Kong at about the same time, the curriculum
included:

Fostering general abilities and skills. It is important that students . . . develop

their capabilities to learn how to learn, to think logically and creatively, to
develop and use knowledge, to analyse and solve problems, to access infor-
mation and process it effectively and to communicate with others so that
they can meet the challenges that confront them now and in the future.
Acquiring maths knowledge has always been emphasised, but fostering these
general abilities and skills are strongly advocated for all students in the
revised curriculum.

Can you change or influence cognitive style?

First, you need to ask the question, ‘Would that be a good idea?’ Basically the
wisdom for maths is that learners need to be able to draw on both cognitive styles,
maybe even in the course of solving a single question: perhaps starting with the over-
viewing skills of the grasshopper, moving on to the documenting and procedural
skills of the inchworm and finally checking the answer using the appraising skills of
the grasshopper. Then, some questions and topics lend themselves more to one cog-
nitive style than the other, for example, mental arithmetic tends to be better for grass-
hoppers, whilst algebra is more inchworm-friendly in the way it is often taught. So,
the question becomes can you teach learners to make appropriate use of both
styles? Can they use metacognition?
Returning for a moment to the first form of the question, a European study carried
out with colleagues in the UK, Holland and Ireland showed that the design, particu-
larly the style, of the maths curriculum can have an influence on cognitive style. It
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also showed that many learners can be taught flexible thinking, but inevitably there
will be those who are exceptions. There will be those whose cognitive style is so
fixed that they can only be taught in that dominant style. For example, George,
a dyslexic pupil of mine with weak short-term memory and working memory, was an
extreme inchworm. As an eleven-year old he would draw, with a ruler and
a compass, large, complex and extremely detailed pictures of fantasy army vehicles.
Despite more than four years of encouraging flexibility in his approach to maths we
had to accept that he was a terminal inchworm. We taught him methods that
acknowledged this situation. He achieved a Grade D/3 in GCSE maths. Typical of his

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 80 Cognitive style in mathematics

problem-solving style was this trial and adjust question from an examination paper
(his answer is given in Table 4.2):
3
The formula V ¼ d2 gives the approxi- Table 4.2 Trial and adjust the inchworm
mate volume of a sphere. way

V is the volume in cm3 V

d too small too big
d is the diameter in cm
5
A sphere has a volume of 120 cm3

Use trial and improvement to find 6 129.6

the diameter, correct to 1 decimal
place.
5.5 91.5
Use the table to record your trials.
The first is done for you. You may use
a calculator. 5.6 98.3

As you can see George had

a procedure, which did not include
5.7 105.5
evaluating each trial. He went straight
to 6, saw the value it gave for V was
too big, but did not evaluate or appre-
5.8 113.1
ciate how close this value of V was to
the target answer of 120. He used his
secure inchworm strategy . . . start in
5.9 121.7
the middle, 5.5, and worked up, which
he did meticulously 0.1 at a time until
he arrived (just as the space in the
table was about to run out) at the cor-
rect answer, 5.9 cm.
So, the answer is, ‘Usually, but not with everyone’. If you can, you should. If you
can’t then you may do more harm than good and then you should teach to the
entrenched style. This decision may be linked to where the learner is in their educa-
tional career. If they are approaching a critical examination, such as GCSE in the UK,
then it is too late to try such a change. Impending examinations create different
priorities.
During our European study on cognitive style we asked pupils as they worked
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through a set of questions that were designed to diagnose their cognitive style,
‘How did you do that?’ and then a follow up question, ‘Can you think of another
way to do the question?’ After six months in our (specialist) school we retested
and the percentage of pupils who could think of an alternative method had more
than doubled. Now, our hypothesis was not that the style of teaching was the
main cause, though it does lead to increased flexibility over a longer period of
time, but that it was mainly the ethos of the classroom which allowed pupils to
explore different approaches.

Copyright material from Steve Chinn (2021), The Trouble with Maths: A Practical Guide to
Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Routledge

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 Cognitive style in mathematics 81

Finally, remember that the uncertain learner often likes the security of the famil-
iar, even if the familiar is not all that successful. Consistency is a key factor in
motivation. Teachers may have to do the hard sell on that alternative method.

How do you teach flexible cognitive style?

Obviously, the design of the curriculum is a great influence on learning. If it actively

encourages flexibility, most learners will adapt. If it dictates limited methods, then
most pupils will not explore alternatives.
The ethos of the classroom is another key factor. If learners are encouraged to
explore different methods and their efforts for doing this are praised and appreciated
(children are adept at spotting false praise) then they will generate a learning culture
of flexible thinking. I believe that cognitive style should be integrated into the whole
curriculum rather than be taught as a separate skill.
So, pupils can be encouraged to share and discuss different methods. There will
be a need to manage the extreme inchworms who may be confused by too much
choice, but learning to value different approaches should encourage flexibility. Again,
the culture of speed may be counterproductive. If we are trying to encourage pupils
to read, digest, analyse and comprehend questions then the pressure of speed may
discourage them from doing that. Perhaps there could be set times and topics where
a more reflective approach is encouraged.
Three key grasshopper skills an inchworm should adopt:

1. Interrelating numbers and operations, for example, seeing 9 as 1 less than 10,
seeing 5 as half of 10.
2. Overviewing any problem, for example, reading to the end before starting and
maybe getting a feel of what the answer may be.
3. Appraising their answer.

Three key inchworm skills a grasshopper should adopt:

1. Explaining their methods.

2. Documenting their methods.
3. Accepting algebra.

As a first example of teaching pupils to be flexible thinkers, whilst acknowledging

potential gaps in sub-skills, let’s take a column addition. This is an item from the 15-
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

minute normed test in More Trouble with Maths. From the data collected when setting up
the test, 26% of the ten-year-old pupils in the sample failed to produce a correct answer.
Take the addition of four two-digit numbers:

37
42
73
+68

The first method uses the number bonds for ten (a collection of key facts).

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 82 Cognitive style in mathematics

1. Focus on the ones-column.

2. Pair any numbers which add to make 10. This will be 7 + 3 and 8 + 2.
3. The total is 20.
4. Now focus on the tens-column.
5. Pair any digits which add to make 10. This will be 7 + 3 and 4 + 6.
6. The total is 20, but since this is the tens column, the actual total for the addition
is 200.
7. Thus, the final total is 200 + 20 = 220.

The most frequent error, for all ages, is 40, a place value error. This method:

• revises the number bonds for 10 and 100

• reduces the risks of addition errors
• reduces the load on short-term and working memories
• and, consequently, is low-stress.

This method is grasshopper in style.

An alternative method, which is more towards the inchworm style, is to use a tally
mark to represent one ten every time additions go above nine. So, as the ones digits
are added from top down:

2
37
42
73
+6 8
220

7+2=9
9 + 3 = 12 The strike-through represents 10 from the 12, leaving 2 to carry
forward.
2 + 8 = 10 The strike-through represents the 10 from 10. The ones digit is 0.
There are 2 strike-throughs, making 20.
20 is ‘carried’ through to the tens column and the adding begins as:
20 + 30 = 50
50 + 40 = 90
90 + 70 = 160 The strike-through represents the 100 from 160.
60 + 60 = 120 The strike-through represents the 100 from 120. The tens digit will
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be the 2.
There are 2 strike-throughs, making 200. The total is 220

This method:

• supports short-term and working memories

• avoids taking the pupil to any sub-total beyond 19
• is structured and sequential

and is more inchworm friendly.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Cognitive style in mathematics 83

The first method encourages pupils to scan down the numbers and spot the 10s.
The second method is more procedural and is less likely to encourage any overview
or appraisal of the answer.
A good question to ask pupils and to support overviewing is to ask them to esti-
mate a total. (There are 4 numbers in this addition, two above 50, two below 50. An
acceptable average is 50 and thus an estimate is 50 × 4 = 200.)
As a second example of teaching pupils to be flexible thinkers let’s take a word
problem about legs.

1. On a farm there is a total of thirty-five pigs and chickens. If the total number of
legs for these pigs and chickens is 120, how many chickens are there on the
farm?

A grasshopper will focus on the numbers involved, that is, 35 and 120. The numbers
suggest that the answer is likely to be a factor of 5 and that there are likely to be
more pigs. So, try a 20/15 split (using a trial and adjust approach, but selecting num-
bers in a logically controlled way rather than just a random choice).

20 x 4 ¼ 80 15 x 2 ¼ 30
60 þ 30 ¼ 110

Since this is too few legs and 5 is the factor to consider, move to a 25/10 split to
obtain more legs.

25 x 4 ¼ 100 10 x 2 ¼ 20 Total ¼ 120

There may be no documentation or perhaps just a couple of scribbled numbers. The

grasshopper needs to be encouraged to articulate his method and to make notes
that communicate his thinking processes. This is a grasshopper version of ‘trial and
adjust’.
The inchworm with good algebra skills will set up simultaneous (that is, two)
equations:

p ¼ number of pigs c ¼ number of chickens

p þ c ¼ 35 ðbased on the number of creaturesÞ

4p þ 2c ¼ 120 ðbased on the number of legsÞ

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These will then be solved by substitution, say of p = 35 – c into the second equation
and the answers will be
p ¼ 25
c ¼ 10

The inchworm may substitute these answers back into the original question to check
their accuracy.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 84 Cognitive style in mathematics

The inchworm needs to be encouraged to make an initial appraisal and an esti-

mate of an answer, even if it is just back with, ‘Is the answer bigger or smaller?’
which in this case is ‘Are there more chickens or pigs?’
The grasshopper overview for question 1 depended on 5 as a factor in the num-
bers involved. 5 is a comfortable number. The other encouraging and comfortable
numbers are 1, 2 and 10. There may be a slightly different approach for question 2.

2. There is a total of 48 pigs and chickens on a farm. If they have a total of 150
legs, how many are pigs?

The inchworm will again set up simultaneous equations. If he does not have this
skill or the confidence to use this skill then he may try trial and adjust, but the choice
of a starting number might be problematic and random. 24 pigs would not be too
demanding a choice as a starting number.
The grasshopper may well appreciate that the average number of legs for a pig
and a chicken is 3 and that 3 × 48 = 144, so the number of pigs must be (slightly)
greater than the number of chickens. There are 6 legs short, so 3 more pigs will take
the answer to 27 pigs.
If the question now uses unfriendly numbers, then . . .

3. The number of pigs and the number of chickens on a farm add up to 39. The
numbers of legs add up to 124. How many pigs are there?

The inchworm will use an algebra solution again. This is ideal for an inchworm,
because he has been able to solve all three problems with the same method, provid-
ing he has those requisite skills.
There are several trial and adjust style methods for a grasshopper to try.
A grasshopper with a less sophisticated skill of controlled exploration may just start
with 40 (easier to compute than 39) pigs.
40 × 4 = 160 He can then adjust back to 39 pigs to obtain 156.
Now appraisal skills can be used to compare 156 with the target number of 124.
A difference of 32 legs suggests there should be 16 chickens. (If one chicken is
exchanged for one pig, there will be 2 less legs). Thus, there are 23 pigs.
A grasshopper may split 39 into 19 and the easy number 20, but still see the 19
as 20 – 1.
Then the first trial will be:

20 x 4 ¼ 80
19 x 2 ¼ 38
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Total ¼ 118

‘Is the answer smaller or bigger?’ takes the grasshopper to add in more pigs. To
reach the target number of 124, 6 more legs are needed so there must be 3 more
pigs. Thus, there are 23 pigs.
In each example the inchworm was able to use the same algebraic procedure.
The grasshopper has used a version of trial and adjust, but he has usually worked

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Cognitive style in mathematics 85

from an initial controlled estimate. This will not be a wild guess for the grasshopper,
though it would be for an inchworm.

Do teachers have different cognitive styles?

I have lectured to teachers about cognitive style for many years and usually this involves
asking the group to do some maths questions which can be used to diagnose their
own cognitive style. When I ask the members of the group to decide which style pre-
dominates for them, the show of hands is almost always close to a 50–50 split. It’s not
sophisticated statistically, but by now it is an extremely large sample!
Another informal survey which I built into my lectures for about three years sug-
gested that different teachers appraise the different styles of thinking of their pupils
differently.
A Manchester Metropolitan University study showed that teachers who were not
maths specialists but found themselves teaching maths may well regress, out of inse-
curity, to the formulaic methods they learnt at school, in the same way that insecure
pupils do (see the Buswell and Judd research10).
Teachers need to realistically appraise their own cognitive style when teaching
and appraising maths and look at the pupils who sail through their lessons. Then
they should look at the pupils who struggle and see if a mismatch of cognitive style
is a contributing factor.
The UK exam system encourages documentation which puts grasshoppers at
a disadvantage. The multiple-choice system is more frequently used in the USA and
may interact differently with cognitive styles. Lack of documentation in the UK’s
A level maths examinations may well result in failure, even if all the answers are
correct.

Encouraging flexible cognitive style

Flexible thinking should permeate each lesson. Teaching this flexibility should begin
at an early age. Some researchers state that cognitive style is habitual, but my
experience suggests that for many pupils (not all, as ever) cognitive style is, definitely,
open to influence. The style of the curriculum can be a significant influence as we
found in our tri-country study. Maths curricula need to address a mixture of styles,
for example, by including the interrelating numbers and the four operations. Grass-
hopper methods make a good overview and introduction. Written methods and
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a more formulaic approach can be gradually introduced as the curriculum pro-

gresses, thus developing inchworm cognition.
One of the other key lessons from cognitive styles is to encourage learners to
overview and review.
The old teaching adage of ‘Tell ’em what you are going to teach, teach ’em, tell
’em what you’ve just taught ’em’ could infer ‘Supply an introductory overview, pro-
vide a detailed explanation and then review and appraise the whole process and
results’. This way you cover the cognitive styles and teach flexibility and thorough-
ness in working processes.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 86 Cognitive style in mathematics

Different methods should be encouraged, valued and evaluated and, usually, dis-
cussed with the group.
As an example of using different methods consider how the relationship of the
numbers can affect the methods used when adding and subtracting. An inchworm
will focus on the symbol (+ or –) and move to use a procedure irrespective of the
numbers involved. For example, faced with 600–594 an inchworm is likely to start by
using the subtraction procedure/algorithm he has been taught rather than appreciate
that the closeness of the two numbers takes him to an easy solution, especially if
that computation is done by addition.

Flexible methods for mental addition and subtraction

In each case below I have listed the essential sub-skills needed to succeed when
using the method. This may help teachers diagnose where and why a pupil may not
be successful in using a specific method. Again, I am trying to help teachers focus
on the pupil and what they bring to the maths problem.

1. Rounding up, for example, 98 rounded to 100 or 995 rounded to 1000

This is applicable for examples where one number is near ten, hundred, thousand
etc. such as 758 + 196:

196 is rounded up to 200 and added to 758 to give 998.

4 is subtracted to re-adjust to the addition of 196, giving an answer of 994.
This assumes that the pupil can subtract 4 successfully.

What are the essential sub-skills?

• An appreciation that you can adjust numbers to make them easier to use. This is
another example of the need to understand place value.
• A knowledge of the consequences from the intermediate answer resulting from the
adjustment, knowing if this intermediate answer is bigger or smaller than the final
answer.
• Knowing how to make this adjustment.
• Knowing basic addition facts is less essential in this strategy, but they can be
used as a check. (In this example, knowing 8 + 6 = 14 checks the ones digit.)
• Being able to remember the question.
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2. Adjust and balance

For example, 86–38:

86 is adjusted to 88 by adding 2.
38 is adjusted to 40 by adding 2.
The subtraction gives 48.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Cognitive style in mathematics 87

What are the essential sub-skills?

• An appreciation that you can adjust numbers to make them easier to use.
• Knowing how to make this adjustment to both numbers involved so that the
answer will be the same.
• Knowing basic subtraction facts is less essential in this strategy, but they can
be used as a check. (In this example, knowing 86 – 38 = 48 checks the ones
digit).
• Being able to remember the question.

3. Counting on

This is such an early skill, used for examples such as 9–5, but now involves appreci-
ating how to bridge tens, hundreds etc.
This method lends itself to modelling with coins (and was used in shops prior to
computers at checkouts, known as making change) and base ten blocks.
For example, 86–38:

Start with 38 and add 2 to reach 40 (2).

Add four tens to reach 80 (40).
Add 6 to reach 86 (6).
Add up the answers from the three steps 2 + 40 + 6 = 48.

What are the essential subskills?

• An appreciation that you can adjust numbers to make them easier to use.
• Knowing how to make these adjustments.
• Appreciating the significance of the place values of tens, hundreds, etc.
• Knowing how much to add each time, though this can be achieved by counting,
but with the potential to affect short-term memory load.
• Knowing the number bonds for ten (which is quicker than counting).
• Remembering the intermediate numbers which were added on and making the
cumulative total.
• Knowing which number to use at the start of the counting process.
• Being able to remember the question.

4. Working from left to right

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For many pupils, mental methods are merely written methods they do in their heads,
so adding from left to right will not be a natural inclination.
For example, 374 + 567:

Add 300 to 500 to give 800, (hundreds)

Add 70 to 60 to give 130, (tens)
Add 130 to 800 to give 930, (hundreds and tens)
Add 4 to 7 to give 11, (ones)
Add 11 to 930 to give 941, (hundreds, tens and ones)

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 88 Cognitive style in mathematics

What are the essential sub-skills?

Knowing addition facts (but counting on is a possibility).

• Remembering the last sub-addition each time.

• Being able to remember the question.
• This method has two memory benefits:

○ The answer is generated in the correct order of digits

○ The intermediate steps rehearse the intermediate answers.

Equal additions for subtraction (also known as borrow and pay-back)

A written method from my own school days.

For example, 82–57:
Although not essential the sum is usually pictured in the vertical form

81 2
– 57
6

Ten is added to the 2 to make 12 so the ones subtraction becomes 12–7 (=5)
An equalising ten is added to the subtracting number so the 50 becomes 60. The
final answer is 25. (I confess that I never knew how this worked, but it did and I got
the necessary ticks for my subtractions. I was particularly bemused by the fact that
the tens digit of the subtracting number always got bigger. I understand now that x –
y equals {x + 10} – {y + 10} and will use the method if under pressure to rush out an
answer and feel secure about it being correct. Old habits die hard. First learning is
hard to overcome.)

What are the essential sub-skills?

• A good visual memory.

• An adequate working memory.
• Adding in the tens in the correct places.
• Good recall of basic facts (counting on or back is going to push the short-term
memory further towards overload).
• Blind faith in the method!
• An ability to reverse the digits of the derived answer (done from ones to hundreds)
back into the correct hundreds, tens, ones sequence.
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• An ability to write the method in an organised and clear form.

• Being able to remember the questions.

6. Using the written algorithm mentally

The learner has to visualise the question as if it were written on paper and be able to
hold that image and work on it as the computation progresses.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
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 Cognitive style in mathematics 89

What are the essential sub-skills?

• A good visual memory.

• Good recall of basic facts (counting on or back is going to push the short-term
and working memories further towards overload).
• Recall of procedures for carrying or decomposing.
• An ability to reverse the digits of the derived answer (done from ones to hundreds)
back into the correct hundreds, tens, ones sequence.
• Estimation skills for a basic check of the final answer. (Failure using this method is
often likely to be a long way from the correct answer.)
• Being able to remember the question.

Conclusion

There is almost always more than one way to solve a maths problem, however
simple the problem seems to be. Children will become better problem solvers if they
can think of another way to solve a problem. This will also help them check their
answers and become more confident with their answers. Adults can still learn this
skill, though in the case of adults, the skill is probably already there, learned after
leaving school, it just needs drawing out. Learning to leave the old skill behind for
a time while you learn another almost contradictory skill (inhibition) is hard for any
sports player. It’s hard to do in academic activities, too. The old, safe and secure
methods are just that, safe and secure. They may be inefficient, but in the early
stages of learning the new skill may appear even less efficient. Hopefully that impres-
sion will change, and the new skill can take its place alongside the old skill.
The grasshopper style involves the key skills of overviewing and estimating. The
inchworm style involves the key skills of seeing the details and using and document-
ing procedures. Encouraging flexibility and appropriate adaptability in cognitive style
is yet another aspect of the risk-taking classroom ethos needed to develop success-
ful, non-anxious mathematicians.
Remember, there may be some inchworms and some grasshoppers whose cogni-
tive style is terminal and totally impervious to change, however skilled the teacher!
But if they learn, at least, to appreciate that there may be more than one way to the
solution, that may be something.
Copyright © 2020. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

Chinn, Steve. The Trouble with Maths : A Practical Guide to Helping Learners with Numeracy Difficulties, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=6305310.
Created from rmit on 2024-09-11 00:57:37.