Teaching moves and preschoolers’ arithmetical accuracy

Several teaching moves have been suggested to support young children’s simple addition and subtraction performance, including use of a number path, directly modeling addition and subtraction, using mathematical symbols, and modifying problem difficulty. In the present study, teacher-researchers implemented an early arithmetic activity, Big Fish Story, with dyads of 3 to 4-year-old students. As part of the implementation, the teacher-researchers used these teaching moves to support young children’s in-the-moment answers to simple addition and subtraction problems. We use session-level data (n = 94 sessions) nested in dyads to examine and compare the frequency with which the use of these teaching moves are associated with two types of student responses, in order to preliminarily identify teaching moves that may support young children’s performance on simple arithmetic tasks. We conclude with implications for the field and early childhood practitioners.