Liping Ma discusses the importance of working with numbers to 20. Chinese teachers really focus on the understanding of numbers to 20. They focus on understanding place value, making a 10 out of 10 1’s. For example, 8+5 would become 8+ (2+3). Then make a ten (8+2) +3 which is 10+3=13. Chinese really think of place value, as a “foundation.” Again, it is part of the “knowledge package.” If students don’t understand addition and subtraction within 20, how will they understand larger numbers?
