Developing Sense About Numbers

Abstract

The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989) identifies number sense as one of the major standards of the K–4 curriculum and recommends that mathematics curricula at these grade levels develop students' number-sense skills. For grades 5 to 8, the standards document states that students' abilities to identify numerical relationships are central to their understanding of numeration concepts and to their judgment of the reasonableness of answers in problem-solving situations. But what is number sense? And how can it be developed?