The Influence of Age and Gender on the Development of Strategic Arithmetic Competency in Iranian Children

random sample of 192 male and female elementary school students, grades 1 – 3, were chosen to study the development of problem solving strategies using the Test of Individual Differences in Children’s Addition Strategy Choices. The results of the study were consistent with the basic assumption of Adaptive Strategy Choice Model (ASCM) and revealed that Iranian children also used multiple strategies to solve simple addition problems. As children became older and acquired more experience in problem solving, they discovered new strategies, the accuracy and speed with which each strategy was executed increased. In addition, retrieved answers to problems from long- term memory came to be used more and the relative frequencies of the use of backup strategies varied. No significant differences were found between boys and girls in speed, accuracy and strategy use. Although the results indicate that the pattern of strategic development in Iranian children is similar to the pattern of children in other countries, the results also reveal that Iranian children differed considerably in the distribution of strategy choices.