PROBLEMS WITH APPLYING ALGORITHMS :  From your experience, you would agree that children are expected to mechanically apply the algorithms for adding or subtracting numbers, regardless of whether they understand why it works. Consequently, children make many errors while applying them. After all, how much, and for how long, can a child remember several sets of rules with no apparent logic to them?

Consider this sample of common errors:

 These errors could be due to the fact that the children haven't understood

i) the operation concerned, and / or

ii) the reasoning behind the way we write numerals involving two or more digits, and I or

iii) regrouping (i.e., 'carry-over or 'borrowing').

Let us also not forget the complications that arise because the child does not understand the concept zero. It could be because she has been told that zero is 'nothing', that errors like 205 - 21 = 224 take place.

So, how can we remedy the situation? In earlier sections we have discussed ways of helping children develop an understanding of the operations and related language. We have dealt with place value in before going further.

Regarding regrouping, let's see how 8-year-old Radha was helped to understand the concept of 'borrowing'.