A key part—though surely not the only part—of early-grades math is ensuring students get the basic arithmetic functions down and, beyond that, making sure they’re able to swiftly and automatically ...

This summer, battle lines were drawn over a simple math problem: 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2) = ? If you divide 8 by 2 first, you get 16, but if you multiply 2 by (2 + 2) first, you get 1. So, which answer is right?

Lynda Colgan receives funding from The Ministry of Education for the Province of Ontario and The Mathematics Knowledge Network (KNAER). Queen's University, Ontario provides funding as a founding ...