An Analysis of Students' Mathematical Reasoning and Mental Computation Proficiencies

Mathematical computation and reasoning are the core of mathematics teaching and learning. It is important for students to put on their thinking caps instead of merely memorizing facts and figures. This study was conducted to investigate mathematical reasoning and mental computation proficiencies among primary school students in Malaysia. This outcome would depict students\u0027 ability, whether the reasoning is logical or merely applying formulas without making sense of it. Utilizing a descriptive correlational design, a total of 213 primary school students comprising Primary 5 and Primary 6 participated in the study. The findings of the study show both Primary 5 and Primary 6 students have a moderately high level of mental computation proficiency with scores of 15.36 and 22.9 respectively (from a maximum score of 30). On the other hand, students obtained a low-level proficiency in the mathematical reasoning test with scores of 14.83 (SD = 6.76) and 18.74 (SD = 6.45) for primary 5 students and primary 6 students respectively from a maximum score of 70. How well do current exams grades reflect the student\u0027s proficiency in mathematical reasoning? The outcome indicates that the school grades do not guarantee the ability to solve complex, mathematical problems, thus does not reflect their ability in mathematical reasoning and mental computational.