Learning basic addition facts from choosing between alternative answers

The acquisition of addition facts was investigated in a practice study. Participants were 103 Grade 1 children who practiced simple addition problems with three different methods: (a) writing down the answer, (b) choosing between two alternative answers, and (c) filling in the second missing addend. On a test with simple addition problems, children who practiced with the Choice method showed positive transfer: choosing between two answers was about as effective for learning addition facts as the conventional method of writing down the answer. There was no transfer effect for children who practiced with the Missing-Addend method. The results are in accordance with network theories on arithmetic fact learning and specifically the Identical Elements (IE) model of arithmetic fact representation.