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

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.