Chunking Method of Long Division

Chunking Method of Long Division

I was helping my 10 year old daughter with her maths homework this morning which consisted of some long division questions.

She gave me the question which I worked out in my head in about 5 seconds and she then went on to start doing a really long winded calculation.

Wondering what on earth she was doing I asked, “Chunking” was her reply. I left her to it and after about 5 lines of working out was amazed that she got the right answer

This is all well and good for a 10 year old to be working out long division like this, but does it mean they will be using this method throughout their lives, or will they change to a more straightforward method as they get older.

Whathever happened to good old mental arithmetic, or is it something taught at an older age?