Can Early Algebra lead non-proficient students to a better arithmetical understanding?

In mathematics curricula teachers often find the more or less implicit request to link the taught subjects to the previous knowledge of the students, for example using word problems from everyday life. But in today’s multicultural and multisocial society teachers can no longer assume that the children they teach have a more or less equal background and thus everyday live can have a very different meaning for different children. Furthermore there is evidence that good previous knowledge in arithmetic can hinder the approach to other mathematical subjects, like algebra. In this paper I want to provide a brief overview on how previous knowledge in arithmetic can affect student\''s access to algebra and therefore present an early algebra teaching project which introduces elementary school children to algebraic notation by measurement in an action-oriented way. Thereby the chosen approach to algebra explicitly does not come back to the student\''s previous arithmetical knowledge but additionally may support non-proficient students in obtaining more insight in the structure of calculations and hence may help them to have more success in solving calculations and word problems