When can the division operation be taught

Abstract

There are several reasons for deepening the studies in the Conceptual Field of the Division in its main meanings: partition and quotation, different ideas with the same invariable – the inverse relationship between the quotient and the divisor. Such knowledge was tested in this research through the resolution of partitive and quotative problems among children of initial schooling (not instructed on division) and in children of different ages inserted in the initial years of Elementary School (with instruction on division) and it was found that all of them can carry out the process by partition and quotation. The 20 children chosen at random were classified in the same performance group, because the observations showed that children without division instruction are doing the same process as children with division instruction, but with doubts when making the notation by the algorithm (process still not systematized for children aged 6 to 7 years). The results are part of a theoretical development framework that analyzes the relationships between procedural knowledge (performance in problems of division by partition and quotation) for students in the early years of Elementary School, demonstrating that it is possible to work the division from the first year of schooling.