What are the Main Messages of Principles and Standards Regarding Computation?
1. Computational fluency is an essential goal for school mathematics (p. 152). 2. The methods that a student uses to compute should be grounded in understanding (pp. 152-55). 3. Students should know the basic number combinations for addition and subtraction by the end of grade 2 and those for multiplication and division by the end of grade 4 (pp. 32, 84, and 153). 4. Students should be able to compute fluently with whole numbers by end of grade 5 (pp. 35, 152, and 155). 5. Students can achieve computational fluency using a variety of methods and should, in fact, be comfortable with more than one approach (p. 155). 6. Students should have opportunities to invent strategies for computing using their knowledge of place value, properties of numbers, and the operations (pp. 35 and 220). 7. Students should investigate conventional algorithms for computing with whole numbers (pp. 35 and 155). 8. Students should be encouraged to use computational methods and tools that are appropriate for the
