Desenvolvimento das Habilidades Aritméticas e Composi o Fatorial da Prova de Aritmética em Estudantes do Ensino Fundamental

The arithmetical skill includes numerical processing and calculation, aspects relatively independents. This study investigated the development of this skill in students of the elementary education, and the factorial composition of the Arithmetic Test (AT). The participants were 587 students of the 1st to the 8th grades, with age between 6 and 16 years, evaluated in the AT. Anova revealed significant grade effects in the AT scores. Factorial analysis, considering the hole sample and the group of 1st to the 4th grades, returned an unique factor. In the 5th to the 8th group showed up a two factors solution: numerical processing and calculation. It probably occurred because, in the older students, these abilities are more consolidated, being possible to identify the two factors underlying to the arithmetical performance, like it was predicted theoretically.