INFERRING THE USE OF RECALL IN SIMPLE ADDITION

This article considers the approach to assessment of knowledge of addi tion number facts which is based on response time to addition question s: whether it is possible to infer from the time taken the strategy us ed by the child to arrive at the answer, and in particular whether one can infer the use of recall. Data in the form of the time taken by a total of 75 children to answer 40 simple addition fact questions prese nted on a computer screen are analysed. The analysis of grouped data i ndicates that a relationship does exist between strategy and response time, but is not able to come to unequivocal conclusions. The analysis of individual data illustrates circumstances in which knowledge of nu mber facts can be reasonably inferred, even though there is not a simp le relationship between strategy and response time. However, the analy sis also reveals the limitations of the approach.