1.What are the strengths and shortcomings of the methods of teaching H T 0 in Examples 1 and 2?

2. a) Think of another activity for getting children to practise H T 0, especially one that deals with a context consisting of 0 as one or more digits.

b) Compare your activity with the activity done by me. Which is better? and why ?

3.Suggest a group activity to help a class of 50 children learn the use of H T 0 in contexts where one of the digits is zero.

So far we have considered different ways of helping children understand the decimal system of representation. What is important for us to remember is that the concept of place value is usually understood by children only a t a later stage. This understanding builds up as they become better at applying the arithmetic operations. We also need to recognise the fact that this understanding is not explicit, and an explicit understanding is not even necessary.