“Take one”, “lend one”

what mathematical operations are these?

Abstract

Considering the importance of teaching natural numbers as established by the Brazilian Common National Curriculum Base (BNCC), it is essential that mathematics educators bring new ways of representing numbers into the classroom to assist students in the process of acquiring mathematical abstraction and understanding the decimal system. This work aims to elucidate issues related to the arithmetic operations of addition and subtraction, such as the common expressions “borrow one” and “carry one,” and their actual meanings. To this end, the golden material, created by Maria Montessori in the 20th century and primarily used in elementary education, was adopted as the main support tool. The study explored the potential of this material and how it can help teachers and students understand addition and subtraction operations, as well as the possible meanings these operations may convey. In conclusion, the use of the golden material as an auxiliary resource proves to be an effective means of enriching the mathematical experience for both students and teachers.