According to the authors of "Instead of Teaching Missing Addends", a 1998 article published in Teaching Children Mathematics, it is not necessary to give children formal instruction of missing addends, provided they are given other meaningful opportunities to develop numerical reasoning. This assertion is based upon research drawn from a study of 110 students in five classes of first graders located in two Alabama public schools. The students were never given formal instruction of missing addend problems, nor were they exposed to textbook or workbook math exercises. I…
