Abstract:

Numerous studies confirm that, in postcolonial territories, students experience significant difficulties in mathematics. This deficit in terms of skills has a negative impact on the human, social and economic development of a community. The problem is more evident in French oversea departments and former colonies, where difficulties in learning are linked to an educational ecosystem that bear the mark of the legacy of colonialism and a peripheral position that has not allowed for the development of educational structures and resources adapted to local specificities.

This paper presents the first results of the Africa2020 Mental Calculation project, funded by the French Ministry of culture. As part of the project, nearly 3000 elementary school students in Martinique, a french oversea territory, were assessed on their mental calculation skills. Nearly 500 students from various elementary school levels (from first to the ffith grade) were tested in June 2021.

First of all, the aim was to understand their mental conception of numbers and their representation in figures. The first part of the test took the form of a "number dictation", ranging from the simplest numbers students could know at their level to the most complex. Then the test continued with number comparisons, based solely on their numerical representation, and with calculations of complements to a given number. The time dedicated for these exercises was not limited. Finally, students were given mental calculation tests on four basic operations, with a maximum of forty for each operation and every instance in one minute.

The initial findings show that the "dictation of numbers" skill is well understood with average percentages of correct answers ranging from 84% to 97% depending on the level. Students are also quite successful in "number comparison" with an average percentage of correct answers ranging from 81% to 92% depending on the level. Students are less successful in the last two skills : "complement to a number" and "quick calculation".

As for the evaluation items such as "complement to a number", second grade students’ level reaches an average of 79% of good answers. This percentage decreases sharply for third and fifth grade students since it varies between 30% and 52%. Considering the operational programs, we have chosen to assess students’ mental calculation skills from the third grade onwards. We also opted to evaluate each of the 4 operations separately and recorded the average score of correct answers obtained for each.

There is an improvement of the average score of correct answers for each of the 4 operations. However, performances are rather weak.

As far as « additions » are concerned, this score varies from 17 in the third grade to 32 in the sixth grade level. The average score of correct answers in multiplication exercises increased from 8 in the third level to 21 in the sixth level. Regarding skills in division, we only assessed fourth, fifth and sixth grade level students. The average score of correct answers ranges from 7 in the fourth grade, to 8 in the fifth grade and then to 13 in the sixth grade level, which we find quite low.

An overall analysis of the aforemetionned results will help the academy of Martinique to provide a relevant training program and a support plan for primary school educational teams on the theme of mental calculation.

Keywords:

Mental calculation, didactics of des mathematics, education, postcolonialism, France, Martinique.