Number names and number understanding

This paper concerns the results from the first year of a three-year research project involving the relationship between Danish number names and their corresponding digits in the canonical base 10 system. The project aims to develop a system to help the students’ understanding of the base 10 system through using mathematical names for the numbers such as one-ten-one for 11 and five-ten-six for 56. The project combines the renaming of numbers with supporting the teaching with the new number names. Our hypothesis is that Danish children have more difficulties learning and working with numbers, because the Danish number names are more complicated than in other languages.
Keywords: A research project in grade 0 and 1th in a Danish school, Base-10 system, two-digit number names, semiotic, cognitive perspectives.