The Development of Everyday Mathematics in Brazilian Children with Limited Formal

Education
Author(s): Steven R. Guberman
Source: Child Development, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Aug., 1996), pp. 1609-1623
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development
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The Development

of Everyday Mathematics

in

Brazilian Children with Limited Formal

Education
Steven R. Guberman
University of Colorado at Boulder
GUBERMAN, STEVEN R.

The Development of Everyday Mathematics in Brazilian Children with

Limited Formal Education. CHILDDEVELOPMENT,

1996, 67, 1609-1623. The sociocultural context

in which children acquire and use everyday mathematics was studied in Brazilian shantytown
communities. Children's developing mathematicalabilities and use of currency in solving commercial problems were investigated. Interviews with the parents of 105 children from 4 to 14
years of age indicated that, when sent to make purchases at local stands, the problems entailed
in the responsibilities parents assigned to children involved greaterarithmeticalcomplexity with
increasing age. Children's accuracy and strategy use on arithmetic tasks similar to the problems
encountered in commercial transactionsrevealed: (a) many children used currency to aid their
problem solving; (b) with increasing age, currency use declined; and (c) children's currency use
progressed from global estimates to the mental decomposition and manipulation of currency
values. The mathematical complexity of children's commercial transactions correlated significantly with their mathematicsperformanceeven when age, grade in school, and years of schooling were statistically controlled. The results provide evidence that by adjustingthe mathematical
complexity of children's commercial transactions, parents facilitate connections between children's developing competence and their everyday activities.

Learning and solving problems in

school often differ from learning and solving
problems outside of school. In school, children typically work alone, without tools, and
are expected to acquire and apply general
rules to problems often removed from any
meaningful context. In contrast, learning
and reasoning outside of school are often
guided by others, embedded in meaningful
activities, and use knowledge linked to the
problem situation, such as the objects being
considered, the participants' goals, and the
available cultural artifacts (Gardner, 1991;
Guberman & Greenfield, 1991; Nunes,
Schliemann, & Carraher, 1993; Resnick,
1986, 1987).
Perhaps the domain in which everyday
reasoning has been studied most thoroughly
is mathematics. Researchers have reported
links between the mathematics of both children and adults and their participation in
various activities: selling candy, carpentering, filling orders in a dairy, installing floors

(Ginsburg, Posner, & Russell, 1981; Masingila, 1993; Nunes et al., 1993; Saxe, 1991;
Scribner, 1986). Commercial transactions
have been highlighted as an especially rich
domain for acquiring mathematical knowledge and skill: Children and adults who engage regularly in commercial exchange display more advanced mathematics than do
people with less involvement in commerce
(Posner, 1982; Saxe, 1982, 1991).
Although the everyday mathematics
called inused outside of school-variously
formal, intuitive, oral, or street mathematics-is
characterized by its flexibility
(Scribner, 1986), everyday mathematics has
common characteristics across contexts of
use. Carraher, Carraher, and Schliemann
(1987) provide an example that highlights
the nature of everyday mathematics and how
it differs from the mathematics typically
taught and used in school. In this instance,
a Brazilian third grader tries to solve the

Partial support for this project was provided by the National Science Foundation (BNS
85-090101) and a Spencer Dissertation-Year Fellowship. I am grateful to Geoffrey Saxe for
his guidance and support throughout the project; to Sandra Maria Pinto Magina, Marcia
Regina Sousa de Sa, Newton Augusto Albuquerque Chianca, and Walberto Tinoco who
aided in data collection and coding; and to Patricia Greenfield, Hilda Borko, and Jrene
Rahm who offered helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Author's address: School of Education, Campus Box 249, Boulder, CO 80309-0249; internet address:
steven.guberman@colorado.edu.
[Child Development, 1996,67, 1609-1623. @ 1996by the Society forResearchin Child Development, Inc.
All rights reserved. 0009-3920/96/6704-0030$01.00]

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1610

Child Development

problem 200 - 35 using written, school-like

procedures (p. 95):

[The child wrote 200 - 35 in a vertical arrangement. Then he wrote the result from units
to tens to hundreds, computing aloud, and obtained 200 in the following way.] "Five, to get to
zero, nothing. Three, to get to zero, nothing. Two,
take away nothing, two." (Experimenter: Is it
right?)"No. So you buy something from me, and
it costs thirty-five, you pay with a two-hundredcruzeiros note and I give it back to you?"
After again failing to solve the problem using a school-like strategy, the child succeeded with an everyday strategy:

grees of participation by children of varying

abilities. Development is seen as increased

proficiency in using cultural artifacts, and

fuller, more independent

participation in

the meaningful activities of one's community (Guberman, 1992; Lave, 1991; Lave &

Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 1990).

The research reported here contributes
to knowledge of everyday mathematics in
three ways. First, previous studies have focused on children and adults for whom
skilled mathematics is a necessary and frequent component of their livelihood, such as
vendors and carpenters. But little is known

about the development of everyday mathe-

(E: Do you know what the result is?) "If it were

to cost thirty, then I'd give you one seventy." (E:
But it is thirty-five.Are you giving me a discount?)

"Onehundredand sixty-five."

matics, or if similar abilities develop in children whose mathematics use is less central
to their lives, such as children who use
money as customers.

The example illustrates two features

that differentiate between everyday and

Second, although commercial exchange

is a common context for learning and using
everyday mathematics, we know little about

school mathematics. First, school-like solutions deal first with units and move to tens
and progressively larger values; in contrast,
everyday mathematics deals with the largest

denominations first and moves toward

smaller values (Nunes et al., 1993). Second,
whereas school mathematics entails general
algorithmsapplied to numerical symbols divorced from the quantities they represent,

such as written procedures for carrying and

borrowing across columns, everyday mathe-

matics involves decomposing quantities into

smaller values and forming subtotals that are

easy to work with, such as multiples of ten
(Reed & Lave, 1979; Resnick, 1987). In the
above example, the child simplified the subtraction by decomposing 35 into 30 and 5,
and then subtracting the 30 from 200. Resnick (1986) proposed that an intuitive understanding of additive composition-the
principle underlying decomposition (i.e., all
quantities can be expressed as the sum of
two or more smaller quantities)-is
a central
and universal feature of everyday mathematics.
The framework for the present study derives from inquiries into cultural practices
(e.g., Laboratory of Comparative Human
Cognition, 1983; Rogoff, 1990; Saxe, 1991):
Children construct mathematical knowledge
as they attempt to make sense of the mathematical problems that emerge in their everyin and out of
day activities. Activities-both
utilize cultural artifacts
school-typically
(e.g., number systems, calculators) and are
socially organized to support different de-

children's understanding of currency-the

how
medium of commercial exchange-or
children use currency to solve mathematical
problems that emerge in their everyday
transactions. The incorporation of cultural
artifacts, such as currency, into problem
solving is a central aspect of sociohistorical
accounts of learning and development (Cole,
1990; Saxe, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978).
The third contribution of the current
study is its focus on the social and cultural
context of mathematics learning and use. Although children rarely receive formal instruction in the mathematics of money,
across diverse cultures children learn to use
it, apparently with little difficulty (Carraher
& Schliemann, 1988). Of special concern in
the present study is the way in which developing mathematical competence is supported by changes in children's socially organized activities.
To address these issues, the present
study examined the arithmetical activities
and achievements of children living in poor
shantytown communities in Recife, a city of
about 2 million residents on Brazil's northeast coast. Although compulsory schooling
begins in Brazil at age 7, participants in the
study had little formal instruction in mathematics; many had attended school sporadically or had been retained repeatedly rather
than promoted to higher grades. Unlike
in the United States, where age and grade
level are highly correlated, in Brazil one
can examine relations among mathematical

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Steven R. Guberman
achievements, age, and everyday activities
independent of school experience.
Through observations and preliminary
interviews, one mathematical activity
emerged as a focus for study: Nearly all children were sent by their parents, often several times a day, to make small purchases
(e.g., soda, bread) at local stands. Children
from a wide range of ages participated in
these transactions, and the problems that
emerged in them appeared to entail children's most complex mathematics usage.
The Development of Children's Everyday
Mathematics and Currency Use
To gain insight into the development of
everyday mathematical reasoning, children
from 6 to 14 years of age were asked to solve
arithmetic problems similar to the ones that
emerged in their commercial transactions.
Both accuracy and problem-solving strategies were examined.
Children's ability to use money in solving problems was assessed by presenting
tasks both with and without money. To look
more closely at the development of arithmetical decomposition skills, the form of currency was varied. For some problems, children were given currency that could be
partitionedinto groups representing the cost
of each to-be-purchased item. Grouping currency into the amount needed for each item,
which children used often in pilot work, requires identifying and adding units of currency but does not necessarily lead children
to decompose currency values. Consequently, children were asked also to solve
problems with currency that could not be
grouped into the price of each item, such as
buying items costing Cr$150 each with only
Cr$100 and Cr$200 notes available.'
The Sociocultural Context
Cognitive development may be facilitated by gradual shifts in the complexity of
children's socially organized activities. For
instance, Saxe, Guberman, and Gearhart
(1987) found that mothers adjusted the mathematical complexity of number games so
that their preschool children could participate; as children acquired greatermathematical skill, mothers provided less direct assistance during play and introduced new, more
complex mathematical goals. Similar shifts
in task complexity as a function of children's
competence have been documented in sev-

1611

eral domains (Greenfield, 1984; Rogoff,

1990; Wertsch, 1979; Wood, Bruner, & Ross,
1976).
In preliminary interviews in the Brazilian shantytowns, parents hardly ever reported participating in didactic interactions
with their children. The present study,
therefore, focuses on how parents adjusted
the arithmeticalcomplexity of children's distal activities-activities in which parents did
not participate directly. Parents influence
children's development through the activities and settings they make available to children in addition to their immediate interactions with children (Cole, 1990; Whiting &
Whiting, 1975). In the interviews, parents
described the responsibilities they assigned
to children when sending them to make purchases; the aim was to document differences
in the complexity of the mathematical problems children encountered in their commercial transactions as a consequence of their
assigned responsibilities.
Links between children's everyday activities and cognitive achievements were examined by asking whether changes in the
complexity of children's mathematicalactivities were related to changes in children's
mathematical competence. Although children's activities are shaped by a variety of
factors (Rogoff, Mistry, Gbncii, & Mosier,
1993; Saxe, 1991; Weisner, 1984), for activities to supportchildren's practice and development of mathematical skills, they should
present more complex challenges as children acquire greater mathematical understanding.
Method
Subjects
Participants included 105 children between 4 and 14 years of age and their parents. The children and parents were recruited by Brazilian university students in
shantytown communities in and around Recife. The children were partitioned into four
age groups: the mean age, grade level, and
years of school attendance for each group are
presented in Table 1. There were approximately equal numbers of boys and girls in
each group.
Procedures
Parents were interviewed at home concerning their children's commercial transac-

1At the time of data collection, the Brazilian unit of

currency was the cruzeiro (Cr$). The
most common units of currency were included in the study: Cr$50 coins, and bills of Cr$100,
Cr$200, Cr$500, Cr$1,000, and Cr$5,000.

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1612

Child Development
TABLE 1
SUBJECTCHARACTERISTICS
AGE GROUP

4-5

6-8

9-11

12-14

Number of children
10
................... 4.8
Age (years) ...............................

39
7.6

29
10.5

27
13.3

Grade in school .......................

Years of school attendancea ......

(.6)

0.0
(.0)
0.0
(.0)

(.9)

0.6
(.5)
1.7
(.9)

(.8)

1.9
(.8)
3.4
(1.1)

(.9)

3.0
(1.6)
5.0
(2.0)

NOTE.-Standarddeviations are in parentheses.

aYearsduringwhichchildrenattendedschoolat least partof the

time. Due to repeatedgraderetention,gradelevel is less thanyearsof
schoolattendance.

tions. The interviewer then administered a

currency identification screening to the children. In the screening, children were asked
to identify the following common units of
currency presented in a random order:
Cr$50, Cr$100, Cr$200, Cr$500, Cr$1,000,
and Cr$5,000. Children who identified correctly each coin and bill were asked to solve
a series of arithmetic problems, presented
by a different interviewer, either at home or
in a nearby community room. All interviews
were conducted, and transcribed or coded,
by native speakers of Portuguese.

Commercial Transactions Interview2

Information concerning the sociocultural context in which children learned and
used everyday mathematics was gathered
through interviews with parents. The Commercial Transactions Interview focused on
the arithmetical problems children encountered as a function of the responsibilities
parents assigned when sent to make purchases. Parents were asked to describe the
responsibilities they typically allocated to
their children, including how many items to
purchase, how much money was supplied,
whether children were reminded to expect
change from the purchase, and, if change
was due, whether parents told children the
amount of change that should be received.

Activity coding.-Based on preliminary

interviews and observations, a four-level

scheme was constructed for categorizing differences in the responsibilities parents reported assigning to children. Each successive level of the scheme describes tasks of
greater arithmetical complexity.
2A

1. Exact purchase: Child is given the exact

amount of money needed for the purchase. The
child does not need to identify currency denominations nor engage in any mathematical calculation.
2. Expect change: Child is told to wait for
change; child is not told how much change to receive nor asked to confirmthat the correctamount
of change has been received. The child does not
need to identify currency denominations nor engage in mathematical calculation; by exchanging
one denomination of currency for both the purchased items and other currency(i.e., the change),
level 2 presents opportunities for children to note
differences among currency denominations and to
begin structuringtheir relative values.
3. Confirm change: Child is told the amount

of change to expect and is responsible for confirming that the correct amount is received. The
child needs to identify and add currency denominations.
4. Calculate purchase: Child is expected to

calculate the cost of the purchase and the amount

of change due, and to confirm that the correct
amount of change is received. The child needs to
add and subtractitem costs and monetary values.
Children were assigned to a single level
based on the most complex responsibilities
they were given by their parents.
interviewers and auReliability.-The
thor each coded a random sample of 32 interviews distributed across age groups (39% of
all interviews). Coders assigned the same
complexity level to 29 of the 32 interviews
(Cohen's kappa = .89). Coding disagreements were resolved through discussion.

copy of the Commercial Transactions Interview is available from the author.

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Steven R. Guberman
Currency Identification Screening
Following the Commercial Transactions
Interview, children were asked to identify,
in random order, the six currency denominations used in the arithmetic tasks. Children
who correctly identified all six denominations were invited to participate in the arithmetic tasks assessment.

Arithmetic Tasks
In order to examine age-related shifts in
children's everyday mathematics, each child
was asked to solve the 26 arithmetic problems presented in Table 2. For each problem, the interviewer described a typical
commercial transaction. The items mentioned in the problem were placed on a table
in front of the child, along with cards showing the numerical values in the problem, a
pad of paper, and a pencil. Children were
instructed to solve the problems however
they chose and to explain their solutions as
they proceeded. After completing a problem, children were asked to clarify their solution process if needed.

Cost and change problems.-To assess

the ability to use currency to solve arithmetic problems, children were presented five
problems twice: once with currency and

1613

once without currency. For the currency

problems, children were given a "money
box" partitioned into six sections; each section contained several units of a currency denomination. Children were asked to both
state their answer to the problem and to give
the interviewer the appropriate amount of
money, although some children did not use
the currency. No currency was provided for
the other condition; for these no currency
problems, children were asked to state the
answer.
The currency and no currency problem
sets consisted of the same numerical values
and arithmetical operations, but the to-bepurchased items described in the problems
differed. For three problems in each set,
children were asked to determine the total
cost of a purchase consisting of several
items. For the other two problems in each
set, children were asked to figure out the
change they should receive in a specified
transaction. For each problem, children received one point for stating the correct answer; possible scores ranged from 0 to 5 for
each condition.

Multiple item problems.-In

order to

gain more detailed information about chil-

TABLE 2
PROBLEMS

USED TO ASSESS CHILDREN'S

MATHEMATICAL

COMPETENCE

Cost and change problems:

Each problem was presented twice, once with a "money box" available for the children to use and
once without money.
Cost problems:
1. What is the total cost if you want to buy three [item a] and each costs Cr$250?
2. What is the total cost if you want to buy two [item b] and one [item c] if each [item b] costs
Cr$400 and each [item c] costs Cr$500?
3. What is the total cost if you want to buy two [item d], one [item e], and one [item
f], if each
[item d] costs Cr$1,600, each [item e] costs Cr$800, and each [item f] costs Cr$500?
Change problems:
4. How much change should you receive if you buy [item g] for Cr$550 and pay with Cr$1,000?
5. How much change should you receive if you buy [item h] for Cr$3,650 and pay with
Cr$5,000?
Multiple item problems:a
Type 1 (eight problems):
Here is some money. How much of the money do you need in order to buy [2/3/5/6 items]each [item] costs Cr$150? Currency presented with the problem: unit currency: 1(1,000),
2(500),
2(200), 7(100), 7(50); nonunit currency: 1(1,000), 2(500), 2(200), 2(100), 1(50).
2
Type (eight problems):
How many [item] can you buy with this money if each [item] costs [unit cost]?
Unit cost
Unit currency
Nonunit currency
100
100
350
350

2(100), 2(50)
5(100)
6(100), 2(50)
5(200), 5(100), 5(50)

1(200), 1(100)
2(200), 1(100)
2(200), 3(100)
6(200), 4(100), 3(50)

a
The following notation is used for currency: the number to the left of the parentheses indicates how
many units
are available of the currency denomination within the parentheses.

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1614

Child Development

dren's use of currency in solving commercial

transaction problems--especially
their ability to mentally decompose numerical values-each child was asked to solve 16 problems that varied in the form of currency
provided. Problems concerned either the
number of items that could be bought with
a specified amount of money or the amount
of money needed to buy a specified number
of items.
For eight problems, children were provided with unit currency--currency
they
could partition into groups to represent the
cost of each to-be-purchased item, a strategy
that does not require decomposing numerical quantities. For the other eight problems,
children were provided with nonunit currency-currency
they could not partition
into groups for each to-be-purchased item.
It was expected that the nonunit currency
problems would engage more children in
mental decomposition strategies.
The sets of unit and nonunit problems
were matched for difficulty: Across sets,
problems entailed the same number of tobe-purchased items and the same total cost.
Children received one point for each correct
answer; possible scores ranged from 0 to 8
for each problem set.
methods chilStrategy coding.-The
dren used to solve eight of the multiple item
problems were examined.3 Previous analyses of children's informal mathematics have
distinguished between manipulating written symbols and manipulating meaningful
quantities (Nunes et al., 1993; Reed & Lave,
1979). In order to focus on children's use of
currency and decomposition, the present
analysis distinguished between two types of
quantity manipulation: manipulating currency values and manipulating noncurrency
values. Consequently, children's solutions
to each problem were categorized as one of
three strategy types. Written calculation
strategies included all solution attempts in
which children wrote numbers on paper before stating an answer (whether or not other
strategies were also used). Solution attempts
in which children did not use paper and
pencil were classified as noncurrency strategies if children stated an answer without using currency and without referring to mone-

tary values, or as currency strategies if

children physically manipulated the currency before stating an answer, or referred
to monetary values during their solutions or
while explaining how they arrived at an
answer.
In order to analyze children's currency
strategies in more detail, a five-level scheme
was constructed. In the scheme, presented
in Table 3 (and described in more detail in
the Results section), higher-numbered strategies entail greater differentiation of currency values and increasing flexibility in manipulating those values.
author and a research
Reliability.-The
assistant used notes taken during the assessment to independently code the strategies
used by 24 randomly selected subjects distributed across age groups (29% of all subjects). Coders agreed on strategy type for 183
of the 190 problems in which a strategy was
used (Cohen's kappa = .93). Of the 84 solutions coded by both raters as currency manipulation, agreement on strategy level was
achieved for 74 of them (Cohen's kappa =
.85). Coding disagreements were resolved
through discussion.
Presentation Order
The two sets of cost and change problems with and without currency were mathematically identical (they differed only in the
items to be purchased); they were, therefore,
presented as far apart in the assessment as
possible. This was done so that children
would be less likely to base their answers to
the second set of questions on their memory
of their answer to the matched problem in
the first question set. Thus, all children were
presented with an initial set of cost and
change problems, both sets of multiple item
problems, and a final set of cost and change
problems. There were four presentation orders, presented in Table 4, with approximately equal numbers of children from each
age group receiving each order.

Results
The results are presented in five sections. First, the results of the Commercial
Transactions Interview are presented, followed by the outcome of the Currency Iden-

3 Coding was based on notes taken by a Portuguese-speakingmember of the research team

during the assessment. Notes were reviewed for completeness and comprehensibility and, when
necessary, discussed with the interviewer/note taker.Due to time constraints,the coding process
was shortened by selecting for coding only the eight problems with a unit cost of Cr$150 (see

Table 2, "Multiple Item Problems," Type 1).

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Steven R. Guberman

1615

TABLE 3
CURRENCY STRATEGIESUSED BY CHILDREN

1. Global correspondences: Child gives an amount of money with no overt calculation or manipulation; explanations do not refer to specific monetary values or arithmeticaloperations.
Example: Child offers a handful of bills and explains, "Because it's a lot."
2. One-to-one correspondences, no decomposition: Child attempts to give money for each item and
then counts the money to determine the total cost.
Example: Child incorrectly places a Cr$100 note and Cr$50 coin by one candy and a Cr$200
note by each of the other two candies; counts the money and answers, "Cr$550."
3. One-to-one correspondences with decomposition: Child attempts to give money for each item
keeping trackof or distributing excesses.
Example: Child places Cr$150 by the first candy, a Cr$200 note by the second candy, and a
Cr$100 note by the third candy; child explains that you can take the "extra"Cr$50 from the
Cr$200 and combine it with the Cr$100 to make two groups of Cr$150. Child then counts the
money to determine the total cost.
4. Convenient groups: Child combines the cost of two or more items to create correspondences between groups of items and convenient values of currency.
Example: Child places Cr$150 by one candy and Cr$300 by the remaining pair of candies, explaining that two candies cost Cr$300; child then counts the money to determine the total cost.
5. Covert calculation: Child gives the correct amount of money with no overt calculation or prior manipulation of the currency; explanations refer to monetary values.a
Example: Child gives Cr$450 and explains, "I added them."
NOTE.-An exampleof each strategyis providedforthe followingproblem:"Howmuchof this moneydo you
need in order to buy three candies-each candy costs Cr$150? [Child is provided with the following currency:
1(1,000),2(500), 2(200), 2(100), 1(50).]
a For coding children's use of covert calculation strategies, answers within Cr$100 of the correct answer were
considered to be accuratein order to avoid excluding children for minor calculation errors.

tification Screening. Analyses of accuracy

and strategy use for children who passed the
currency screening are presented in Section
3 for cost and change problems and in Section 4 for multiple item problems. The last
section contains analyses of the relation between the arithmetical complexity of children's commercial transactions and their
problem-solving skills.

Children's Activities
view

The Commercial Transactions Interprovided information from parents

about the context in which children learned

and used everyday mathematics. Of particular interest was whether the responsibilities
the
parents assigned to their children-and
arithmetical complexity of the commercial
with chiltransactions they entailed-varied
dren's age.
Based on parents' reports, each child
was assigned an activity level representing
the relative complexity of the arithmetic
problems that emerged in his or her commercial transactions. The percentage of chil-

TABLE 4
PRESENTATION

Problem Type

ORDER

Order A

Cost and change .......... With currency

Multiple item ............. Type 1: unit currency
Type 2: unit currency
Type 2: nonunit currency
Type 1: nonunit currency
Without currency
Cost and change ........

Cost and change .......

Multiple item .............

Cost and change .........

Order B
With currency
Type 1: nonunit currency
Type 2: unit currency
Type 2: nonunit currency
Type 1: unit currency
Without currency

Order C

Order D

Without currency
Type 1: unit currency
Type 2: nonunit currency
Type 2: unit currency
Type 1: nonunit currency
With currency

Without currency
Type 1: nonunit currency
Type 2: nonunit currency
Type 2: unit currency
Type 1: unit currency
With currency

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1616

Child Development
TABLE 5
PERCENTAGEOF CHILDREN IN EACH LEVEL OF ACTIVITY
COMPLEXITYBY AGE GROUP
AGE GROUP

1.
2.
3.
4.
N

ACTIVITY
COMPLEXITY
LEVEL 4-5

6-8

9-11

12-14

Exact purchase ..................... 10

Expect change ..................... 90
Confirmchange ...................... 0
Calculate purchase ............... 0
.................................................. 10

21
44
26
10
39

7
28
24
41
29

4
4
26
67
27

dren assigned to each activity level is presented in Table 5. Although all children
were engaged in commercial transactions,
the arithmetical problems they encountered
in their transactions differed across age
groups. Children younger then 9 years of age
engaged mostly in transactions requiring no
computation: They were given the exact
amount of money needed for their purchase,
a one-for-one exchange of money for goods
(level 1), or were told to wait for change but
were not expected to count it (level 2). In
contrast, the majority of children in the two
older age groups were expected to either
confirm that they received the correct
change, by counting and adding denominations of currency (level 3), or to figure out
the cost of their purchases and change, often
requiring complex addition and subtraction
(level 4).
A Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA on
children's activity levels confirmed that
older children were involved in activities of
greater arithmetical complexity than were
younger children, X2(3, N = 105) = 34.9,
p < .0001. Comparisons of adjacent age
groups revealed that, according to parental
reports, 12-14-year-olds were engaged in arithmetically more complex activities than
were 9-11-year-olds (Mann-Whitney U =
267.5, z = 2.2, p < .05), and 9-11-year-olds
were engaged in arithmetically more complex activities than were 6-8-year-olds
(Mann-Whitney U = 337.0, z = 3.0, p < .01).
The mathematical complexity of the transactions of 6-8-year-olds and of 4-5-year-olds
did not differ significantly (p = .25).
All children were engaged in the same
nominal
small
activity-making
purchases-although
parents reported varying
its arithmetical character for children of different ages. Such variations indicate that, in
addition to the adjustments parents make in
their face-to-face interactions with children,

parents report that they also adjust the complexity of children's activities away from
home through their allocation of responsibilities.

Currency Identification Screening

Only children who correctly identified
all six currency denominations were administered the arithmetic tasks. All children under 6 years of age and 13 6-8-year-olds
failed this screening. Thus, the youngest age
group presented the following arithmetic
tasks consisted of 26 6-8-year-olds (mean
age = 7.9 years, SD = 0.8 years; mean grade
level = 0.7, SD = 0.5; mean years of schooling = 2.0, SD = 0.7).

Cost and Change Problems

Three analyses examined the development of children's everyday mathematical
reasoning and use of money to solve problems. The first analysis compared the number of problems presented with and without
money for which children stated the correct
answer. Accuracy scores are presented in
Table 6. A 3 (age group) x 2 (condition:
currency, no currency; repeated) ANOVA
yielded main effects of age group, F(2, 79)
= 23.6, p < .001, and condition, F(1, 79) =
8.2, p < .001, and no interaction. Children
TABLE 6
MEAN NUMBER OF CORRECTANSWERS ON COST
AND CHANGE PROBLEMSPRESENTED WITH AND
WITHOUT MONEY BY AGE GROUP
AGE GROUP
CONDITION

With money ...............

Without money .........
NOTE.-Maximum
are in parentheses.

6-8

9-11

12-14

9
(1.3)
.6
(1.2)

2.6
(1.6)
2.2
(1.7)

3.6
(1.6)
3.4
(1.6)

score = 5. Standard deviations

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Steven R. Guberman

1617

solved correctly more problems with cur- ing partial calculations and payments,
rency than without currency, and the 12-14- thereby avoiding the need to count out the
year-olds solved correctly more problems total amount of money needed for the purthan did the 9-12-year-olds, who solved cor- chase.
rectly more problems than did the 6-8-yearIn summary, many children attempted
olds (Duncan pairwise comparisons, ps <
to use currency in their problem solving and,
.01). (To guard against the inflation of alpha for those
who passed the currency screenlevels, post hoc pairwise comparisons were
tested using an alpha level of .05 divided by ing, children used currency with increasing
the number of comparisons [see Hays, 1981, proficiency from 6 to 14 years of age. Less
frequent use of currency by the older chilp. 435].)
dren suggests they had available a greater
The second analysis examined chil- repertoireof problem-solving strategies than
dren's tendency to use currency when it was did the younger children.
available. Children were not required to use
the currency but did so on three-fourths Multiple Item Problems
Accuracy.-Comparing
performances
(76%) of the problems. Currency use declined with age: Currency was used on 89%, on the unit and nonunit currency problems
provides more detailed information about
76%, and 63% of the problems by the 6-8developing currency use, espeand
year-olds, 9-11-year-olds,
12-14-year- children's
their ability to decompose numerical
olds, respectively. In contrast to the declin- cially
values. Whereas on unit currency problems
ing tendency to use currency, accuracy children could
partition currency into
increased across age groups when children
did use currency. Although the 6-8-year- amounts equal to the cost of each to-beolds used currency more frequently than did purchased item, other strategies, such as
the older children, they stated the correct mental decomposition and regrouping, were
answer on an average of 19%of the problems needed for the nonunit currency problems.
for which they used currency; the mean perTable 7 contains children's accuracy
centage of problems for which children scores for unit and nonunit currency probstated the correct answer when using cur- lems. A 3 (age group) x 2 (condition:
rency increased to 47% for the 9-11-year- unit currency, nonunit currency; repeated)
olds and to 73% for the 12-14-year-olds. A ANOVA on the number of problems solved
one-way ANOVAanalyzing age group differ- correctly yielded main effects of age group,
ences in the percentage of problems (follow- F(2, 79) = 21.8, p < .001, condition, F(1, 79)
ing an arcsine transformation) solved cor- = 17.8, p < .001, and an age x condition
rectly when children used currency interaction, F(2, 79) = 7.9, p < .01. The inrevealed that 11-14-year-olds were more ac- teraction shows that the effect of currency
curate than were the 9-11-year-olds, who varied with age group: The accuracy of the
were more accurate than were the 6-8-year- 6-8-year-olds and the 12-14-year-olds varolds, F(2, 76) = 20.2, p < .001, Duncan pair- ied only slightly across currency conditions
wise comparisons, ps < .01.
(ps > .10); in contrast, the accuracy of the
was significantly higher in
9-11-year-olds
The third analysis indicates that, for curthe unit currency condition than in the nonrency problems, tendering the correct
amount of money was related strongly to unit currency condition, t(29) = 5.8, p <
.0001.
stating the correct answer. The conditional
probability of stating the correct answer
TABLE 7
when one has tendered the correct money
MEAN NUMBER OF CORRECTANSWERS ON
was .70 for the 6-8-year-olds, .86 for the 9MULTIPLE ITEM PROBLEMSPRESENTED WITH UNIT
11-year-olds, and .97 for the 12-14-yearAND NONUNIT CURRENCYBY AGE GROUP
olds. In contrast, no child ever gave the incorrect amount of money and stated the
AGEGROUP
correct answer. Thus, on a substantial number of problems, children, especially
PROBLEM
TYPE
6-8
9-11
12-14
younger children, were capable of tendering
3.5
6.8
7.0
the correct amount of money without being Unit currency ...........
(2.7) (1.8) (1.7)
able to determine the total amount they
5.4
6.6
were giving. As discussed below, in the mul- Nonunit currency ........ 3.5
(2-2) (2.0) (1.6)
tiple item problems, many children used
strategies that simplified the mathematics of
NOTE.-Maximum score = 8. Standard deviations
commercial transactions, such as determin- are in parentheses.

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1618

Child Development

Although the performances of the 6-8year-olds and the 12-14-year-olds were unaffected by the form of currency, their accuracy rates differed from each other: the
6-8-year-olds had difficulty using money in
both conditions, and the 12-14-year-olds
were both more proficient in their currency
use and more able to solve problems without
currency. Only for the 9-11-year-olds did
the form of currency affect accuracy rates:
They used currency to create groups for each
to-be-purchaseditem with unit currency but
had difficulty decomposing and manipulating currency values with nonuriit currency.
Analyses of strategies, which follow, provide
further insight into children's developing
ability to use currency.
Strategy type.-Three strategy types
were noted in children's performances:written calculation, noncurrency manipulation,
and currency manipulation.4 The mean
number of problems attempted with each
strategytype, and the proportionof attempts
with each that led to a correct answer, are
presented in Table 8. Analyses examined
the frequency with which children used
each strategy and children's accuracy using
each strategy.
With respect to the frequency of strategy
use, the 6-8-year-olds used currency strategies more often than noncurrency strategies,
which they used more often than written calculation; both the 9-11-year-olds and 1214-year-oldsused noncurrencyand currency
strategies about equally often, and more often than they used written calculation
(paired t tests, p < .0001 for all differences).
One-way ANOVAs on each strategy type revealed (a) no differences among age groups
in their use of written calculation-few children of any age used written calculation, (b)
use of noncurrency strategies increased with
age (6-8-year-olds differed from the two
older groups, Duncan pairwise comparisons,
ps < .01), and (c) use of currency strategies
decreased with age (6-8-year-olds differed
from the two older groups, Duncan pairwise
comparisons, ps < .01).
In order to examine the relation between strategy use and accuracy, the percentage of problems solved correctly when
children used either a currency or noncur-

rency strategy was examined in a 3 (age

group) x 2 (strategytype: noncurrency, currency; repeated) ANOVA (following an arcsine transformation).The analysis did not include written calculation strategies because
they were used infrequently. The analysis
yielded only a main effect of age group, F(2,
48) = 5.8, p < .01: The 6-8-year-olds were
less accuratethan were the two older groups
(Duncan pairwise comparisons, < .01). Ac!
and
curacy did not differ across currency
noncurrency strategy types.
These analyses extend the accuracy
findings presented above. Whether or not
currencywas provided, and its form when it
was provided, had little effect on the 12-14year-olds because, as the analysis of strategies shows, they were less dependent on the
money than were the younger children; they
were, rather, more likely to use strategies
that do not entail currency manipulation;
such as mental calculation. In contrast, the
6-8-year-olds almost'always engaged in currency manipulation but, because their understanding of currency was limited, they
performed poorly across conditions. The
strategies used by the 9-11-year-olds appeared to be transitional between the currency manipulation of the 6-8-year-olds and
the more internal, mental strategies of the
12-14-year-olds.
Strategy complexity level.-To analyze
more closely age-related shifts from currency manipulation to mental strategies,
each instance of a currency strategy was
coded using the five-level scheme presented
in Table 3. Each level in the scheme represents greater understanding of currency and
increasing ability to decompose and manipulate numerical values. Since the above
analyses indicate that older children were
less likely to use currency in their problem
solving, the scheme also documents shifts
from physical manipulation of currency to
the mental manipulation of quantity representations.
At level 1, children do not distinguish
between currency denominations and often
create global correspondences-giving, for
instance, a lot of bills for a lot of to-bepurchased items. At level 2, children identify and add currency denominations and

4 For some problems, a few children said they did not know the answer and made no
attempt at a solution. The 6-8-year-olds made no attempt to solve 17 of 208 problems (8.2%),
the 9-11-year-olds made no attempt to solve 1 of 232 problems (0.4%),and the 12-14-year-olds
made no attempt to solve 2 of 216 problems (0.9%). These problems are not included in the
analyses that follow.

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1619

Steven R. Guberman
TABLE 8
MEAN FREQUENCY

OF STRATEGY TYPES USED TO SOLVE MULTIPLE

BYAGEGROUP
ITEMPROBLEMS
AGE GROUP

6-8

TYPE
STRATEGY

.0 (. -)
Written calculation
..................
..... .9 (48)
Noncurrency manipulation
6.6 (41)
Currency manipulation ........
5 (0)
No strategya.............................

9-11

12-14

.4 (50)
.4 (80)
3.2 (70) 4.1 (84)
4.3 (78) 3.4 (88)
.0 ( -) .1 (0)

NOTE.-Maximumfrequency = 8. The percentage of each strategy

that led to a correct solution is in parentheses.
a Participantsdid not attempt to solve the problem.

often attempt to create one-to-one correspondences between each item and its unit
cost. Using level 2 strategies, children do not
decompose currency values; they may realize that they are tendering too much money
for an item, such as paying Cr$200 for an
item costing Cr$150, but they neither quantify nor keep track of the extra money they
pay. At level 3, children continue to create
one-to-one correspondences between currency and to-be-purchased items, but they
demonstrate increased flexibility in mentally decomposing and manipulating currency values. For instance, in order to purchase items costing Cr$150 each, they may
call a Cr$100 note "Cr$50 and Cr$50" and
combine each representation of Cr$50 with
a Cr$100 note to create two groups of currency, each corresponding to the purchase
of a single item. At level 4, children are no
longer limited to determining the amount of
money needed for each item; rather,the cost
of several items are added together by decomposing and manipulating mental representations of quantity in order to form convenient groups and subgroups. Multiple

items (e.g., two items costing Cr$150 each)

are grouped and paired with easily combined sets of currency (e.g., three Cr$100
notes). In level 5, children no longer use the
actual money in their calculations but report
acting entirely on mental representations of
currency values. Although there is no overt
calculation in both level 1 and level 5, they
differ in that children provide currencyrelated mathematicalexplanations in the latter; in contrast, level 1 explanations invoke
unquantified correspondences or nonmathematical answers (e.g., "I know because my
brother showed me").
The percentage of multiple item problems attempted at each strategy level is presented in Table 9. The older children used
higher-numberedstrategies more frequently
than did younger children. For example, the
modal strategy varied across age groups:
more than two-thirds of the 6-8-year-olds
had a modal strategy either of level 1 (44%
of the age group) or of level 2 (24%); the
most common modal strategies of the 9-11year-olds were level 2 (44%) and level 4

TABLE 9
PERCENTAGE

OF CHILDREN WHO USED A PARTICULAR MODAL STRATEGY LEVEL TO SOLVE MULTIPLE

ITEM PROBLEMS BY STRATEGY LEVEL AND AGE GROUP

AGEGROUP

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
N

LEVELa
STRATEGY

6-8

9-11

12-14

Global correspondences .....................................

One-to-one correspondences, no decomposition .......................
One-to-one correspondences, with decomposition ....................
Convenient groups
..................................................
Covert calculation .........................
.......................
..............................................................

44 (0)
24 (64)
16 (66)
12 (68)
4 (100)
25

7 (0)
44 (93)
7 (85)
33 (60)
7 (100)
27

0 (0)
13 (94)
21 (73)
29 (88)
38 (100)
24

NOTE.-The

percentage of each strategy that led to a correct solution is in parentheses.

a See Table 3 for definitions and examples of each strategy.

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1620

Child Development

sure was children's modal strategy level

used to solve the multiple item problems.
The correlation of activity complexity
A Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA on with accuracy is .50 (p < .001) and with
the number of children within each age modal strategy level used on the multiple
group who used a particularmodal strategy item problems is .46 (p < .001): Children
on the multiple item problems confirmed whose parents reported assigning them rethat older children's currency strategies sponsibilities with more complex arithmetic
were at higher levels of mathematical com- demonstrated greater arithmetical accuracy
plexity than were the currency strategies of and more sophisticated problem-solving
younger children, x2(2, N = 76) = 22.5, strategies. These statistics, though, do not
p < .001. Comparisons of adjacent age necessarily indicate a direct relation begroups revealed that the modal strategy lev- tween the mathematical complexity of chilels of the 12-14-year-olds were of greater dren's activities and their competence. It is
arithmeticalcomplexity than were the modal possible, for instance, that parents' assignstrategy levels of the 9-11-year-olds (Mann- ment of responsibilities depends on children's age independent of their mathematiWhitney U = 171.5, z = 3.0, p < .01), which
were of greater arithmetical complexity than cal competence; the correlation between
activity complexity and competence would
were the modal strategy levels of the 6-8year-olds (Mann-Whitney U = 206.5, z = reflect the positive relation of each variable
with age. In fact, as indicated in Table 10,
2.5, p < .05).
children's performance scores do correlate
The age-related shifts in children's cur- significantly with their age, as well as with
rency strategies on the multiple item prob- their grade in school and their years of
lems indicate that, for children who passed school attendance. Therefore, to examine
the currency identification screening, the whether the complexity of children's comability to use currency changed gradually mercial transactions and their arithmetical
between 6 and 14 years of age: from disre- competence are associated beyond the comgarding differences among currency denom- mon effects of age, grade, and years of school
inations toward increasing differentiation attendance, the three latter variables were
of currency values and greater flexibility in controlled statistically and partial correladecomposing and combining them. With tions were calculated. The partial correlaincreasing age, children showed less de- tions of activity complexity with children's
for age (in
pendence on the currency, mentally decom- performance-controlling
posing and combining monetary values in- months), grade in school, and years of school
stead.
attendance-were .27 for accuracy (p < .05)
and .23 for modal strategylevel used to solve
Parallel Shifts in the Arithmetical
the multiple item problems (p < .05). In
Complexity of Children's Activities and
contrast,the relations between school expeAbilities
rience and children's activities and achieveThe final analyses examine the relation ments were
relatively minimal: Once the
between children's commercial transactions common association
of age was controlled,
and arithmetical understanding. For enviand years of schooling were no longer
grade
ronments to support children's practice and
statistically associated with the complexity
construction of mathematics, both children's level
of children's transactions, the number
activities and skills should show increasing of
solved correctly, or the modal
problems
arithmetical complexity over time: As chillevel used to solve the multiple
strategy
dren acquire greater competence, their ev- item
problems (partial correlations ranged
eryday activities also should grow more from -.12 to .20, all ps > .05).
complex, providing opportunities for children to practice and extend newly acquired Discussion
skills. To test the relation between chilThis study examined the mathematical
dren's activities and abilities, two measures
of performance were correlated with the ar- activities and skills of a group of Brazilian
ithmetical complexity level of each child's children from 4 to 14 years of age. Analyses
commercial transactions (based on the Com- focused on differences across age groups
mercial Transactions Interview). The first both in the mathematicalcomplexity of chilmeasure, an index of overall accuracy, was dren's commercial transactions and in childetermined by summing each child's scores dren's accuracy and strategy use for solving
across all problem types. The second mea- commercial transactions.
(33%),and the most common modal strategies of the 12-14-year-olds were level 4
(29%)and 'level 5 (38%).

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Steven R. Guberman

1621

TABLE 10
ZERO-ORDER

PEARSON CORRELATIONS

AMONG VARIABLES

Accuracy

Modal
Strategy

Activity
Complexity

Age
(Months)

Grade

.72
.50
.65
51
.50

.46
.53
.45
.37

.49
.45
.27

.65
.71

.68

Modal strategy
..........
Activity complexity .....
.............
Age (months)
Grade ............................
Years of school ...........

NOTE.-N = 74. All values are significantat .001 (one-tailed)with one exception (activity
complexity and years of schooling, p < .01).

The Sociocultural Context

The children who participated in the
study had little instruction in mathematics
but regularly encountered arithmetic problems as they purchased items at local stands.
According to the sociohistorical perspective,
children learn and develop as they participate with others in the meaningful activities
of their communities, such as the routine
commercial transactions that were the focus
of this study (Cole, 1990; Lave & Wenger,
1991; Rogoff et al., 1993). Rogoff et al. note
that when children have opportunities to
participate in the activities of their communities, they often are provided less didactic
instruction and given greater responsibility
for learning.
The present study indicates that even in
activities distal from direct verbal interactions with parents, children's learning often
is regulated by parents. Parents reported adjusting the mathematical complexity of children's commercial transactions through their
assignment of responsibilities: The commercial transactions of young children required
little arithmetical competence, but older
children's responsibilities
often entailed
complex arithmetic. Even children with
very limited mathematical competence participated in and accomplished commercial
transactions. As the currency screening task
revealed, many young children could not
even identify the values of currency they
were using regularly to make purchases.
Age-related shifts in the responsibilities
parents assigned to children mirror the oftreported adjustments adults make in their
face-to-face
with children
interactions
(Greenfield, 1984; Saxe et al., 1987; Wertsch,
1979). Task adjustments allowed children
across a wide range of ages and abilities to
participate meaningfully in a valued and often complex cultural activity. Recent discussions of "legitimate peripheral participa-

tion" (Lave, 1991; Lave & Wenger, 1991),

"guided participation" (Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff
et al., 1993), and the "zone of proximal development" (Vygotsky, 1978; Wertsch, 1984)
indicate that gradual increases in the complexity of activities support children's learning and development.

The Development of Children's Everyday

Mathematics and Understanding of
Currency

The children who participated in the

study often displayed considerable skill in
solving arithmetic problems similar to the
ones that emerged in their commercial transactions. Few children of any age used written procedures in their calculations. Rather,
most children employed informal methods
that were both different from school-based
procedures and similar to the everyday strategies documented in children and adults
across a range of activities and cultures
(Ginsburg et al., 1981; Nunes et al., 1993;
Saxe, 1991). Children who participated regularly as customers in commercial transactions displayed informal mathematical skills
similar to the ones documented in children
and adults earning their livelihood through
commerce.
Many children used currency in their
problem solving, and most solved accurately
more problems when money was available
than when it was not. For the children who
had learned the names of the varied currency denominations, currency use shifted
across age groups: From 6 to 14 years of age,
children were more accurate using currency
although they used it less frequently, an indication that they were developing strategies that are less dependent on the concrete
presence of the currency.
Performance on the multiple item problems highlighted the difficulty many children had using currency and the gradual de-

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1622

Child Development

velopment of mental decomposition and

regrouping skills. Especially noteworthy is
that the form of currency (unit vs. nonunit)
did not affect the performances of either the
6-8-year-olds or the 12-14-year-olds. For
the younger of the groups, who solved fewer
than half the problems in each condition, the
lack of an effect reflects difficulty using currency of any type. In contrast, the lack of an
effect for the older group, who did well in
both conditions, points again to their decreasing dependence on the actual currency
in their problem solving and their access to
other solution strategies, such as mental decomposition and regrouping.
Currency strategies provide further evidence of the shift from manipulating external aids to manipulating internal representations of quantity. The most common
strategies of the 6-8-year-olds who passed
the currency identification screening (level
1) and of the 12-14-year-olds (level 5) do
not entail physically manipulating currency;
their outcomes, though, indicate they derive
from different underlying processes. The 68-year-olds demonstrated little ability to use
currency appropriately; in contrast, the 1214-year-olds usually arrived at a correct answer and reported engaging in mental maand
nipulation, primarily decomposing
regrouping internal representations of currency values. These results echo Vygotsky's
(1978, chap. 3) finding that cultiral artifacts
are effective external aids in problem solving during an intermediate stage of skill acquisition, after children understand how to
use the aids but before the aids are no longer
required.
The findings indicate that common characteristics of everyday mathematics, such as
arithmetical decomposition and regrouping,
are constructed over time. The transition
from currency to mental strategies documented here suggests that mental decomposition and regrouping may originate in the
use of concrete and specific representational
systems, such as currency, and become more
flexible and generalized with use (Lawler,
1981).
Everyday Activities as Supportive
Contexts for Children's Learning and
Development
Typically, developmental research reports changes over time or age in children's
performance and knowledge.
But, as
Weisner (1984) pointed out, two sets of
changes are occurring simultaneously:
changes in children's performance are sup-

ported by changes in children's environments. The present study documented that

as children acquired proficiency in solving
problems similar to the ones that arose in
their everyday transactions, parents assigned chores that engaged children in arithmetical problems of greater complexity. Although the study documents associations
between children's competence and parental assignments, the causal relations are unclear. The responsibilities parents assign to
children are determined by many considerations, including some not associated with
children's mathematical competence, such
as providing exact change to children who
would otherwise forget the change or lose it
on the way home. The current study shows
that in their assignment of responsibilities
to children, parents responded to more than
the child's age or schooling. Most likely, the
causal relations are bidirectional: As children become more competent, parents give
them more complex assignments in order to
ease their own responsibilities. At the same
time, corresponding changes in the complexity of everyday activities provide a supportive environment for children to practice
and extend their mathematical skills and understanding.

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