Title: MC-COMET3 as a learning strategy to develop students' number sense: a theoretical framework

Authors: Ilda Salwani Ameer Hamza; Abdul Halim Abdullah; Sharifah Osman

Addresses: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia ' Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia ' Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Abstract: Recently, Malaysian researchers revealed numerous concerns regarding students' struggles in number sense. Nevertheless, in a contemporary Malaysian classroom atmosphere, pencil-and-paper computation, and the application of a calculator that results in the generation of an exact answer are becoming more prevalent. Mental computation and computation estimation were long introduced in the Malaysian education practice; yet, students are incompetent in both skills. They still regard that mathematics is all about getting a specific answer. This article aimed to suggest a theoretical framework in promoting a learning strategy to support student's number sense. The intention of developing a learning strategy is to enhance mental computation and computation estimation skills as a tool in number sense without the use of written computation by developing the MC-COMET3 learning strategy (learning mental computation and computation estimation strategies mentally). One of the components in the learning strategy is the employment of the comparison approach to promote students thinking.

Keywords: number sense; mental computation; learning strategy; comparison approach; computation estimation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPSPM.2022.126242

International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 2022 Vol.10 No.2/3, pp.408 - 421

Received: 10 May 2019
Accepted: 18 May 2020
Published online: 18 Oct 2022 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article