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Blog and Research

There is a wealth of research evidence telling us about the mathematical development of young children. If you are interested in the pedagogy of the teaching and learning of number sense and factual fluency, you will find our latest thinking in the blog articles below, along with some of the key research papers that have informed the Number Sense Maths programmes.

You can also come along to one of our free, introductory training sessions, live on zoom, to hear more about how to develop the number sense and factual fluency of your children and how Number Sense Maths can help you.

Number Sense Maths Blog

The psychology of learning times tables (Sept 2024)

Balanced Number Fact Instruction (August 2024)

Reflections on the Multiplication Tables Check (July 2023)

Developing a times tables curriculum and pedagogy (June 2023)

Visualising mental images to support calculation (May 2021)

Achieving independent and fluent calculation strategy selection (February 2021)

Addition & subtraction facts, and KIRFs: What's the same, what's different? (November 2020)

Why number fact teaching should be thought of as phonics for maths (July 2020)

Go slow to go fast. Why staying on calculating within 10 in Year 1 pays off in Year 2 (May 2020)

Rethinking the structure of the Year 1 maths curriculum (January 2020)

Achieving fluency in number facts: the origins of Number Sense Maths (February 2017)

Research informing Number Sense Maths

Three approaches to one-place Addition and Subtraction

by Liping Ma

Duality, Ambiguity and Flexibility: A Proceptual View of Simple Arithmetic

by Eddie M. Gray & David O. Tall

Children who get ‘stuck’ at
level 2C in mathematics

by The National Strategies Research Project

Emphasizing Thinking Strategies in Basic Fact Instruction

by Carol A. Thornton

Raising Attainment in Primary Number Sense: from Counting to Strategy

By Mike Askew, Tamara Bibby and Margaret Brown

Young children's use of Derived Fact Strategies for Addition and Subtraction

By Ann Dowker

The 10 research principles that inform the Number Sense Maths programmes (March 2023)