This study analyzed children's use of mental computation strategies and the standard algorithm on multi-digit subtractions. Fifty-eight Flemish 4th graders of varying mathematical achievement level were individually offered subtractions that either stimulated the use of mental computation strategies or the standard algorithm in one choice and two…

Background: In the last decades, children's understanding of mathematical principles has become an important research topic. Different from the commutativity and inversion principles, only few studies have focused on children's understanding of the addition/subtraction complement principle (if a - b = c, then c + b = a), mainly relying on verbal…

The present study aimed at investigating children's and adolescents' understanding of constant and accelerated motions. The main objectives were (1) to investigate whether different task formats would affect the performance and (2) to track developmental changes in this domain. Five to 16 year olds (N = 157) predicted the distances of a moving…

Examines the scope and nature of upper elementary school pupils' difficulties with modeling and solving nonroutine additive word problems. Concludes that many errors result from the superficial, stereotyped approach of adding or subtracting two given numbers without considering the appropriateness of that action in relation to the problem context.…

Background: From upper elementary education on, children develop a tendency to over-use linearity. Particularly, it is found that many pupils assume that if a figure enlarges "k" times, the area enlarges "k" times too. However, most research was conducted with traditional, school-like word problems. Aims: This study examines…

In this study, we investigated the fluency with which first graders of different mathematical achievement levels applied multiple, school-taught strategies for finding arithmetic sums over 10. We characterized children's strategies with the 4 parameters of Lemaire and Siegler's (1995) model of strategy change (strategy repertoire, distribution,…

A systematic series of studies by De Bock et al. revealed a strong, deep-rooted tendency among secondary school students to apply the proportional model in non-proportional problems involving lengths, areas and volumes of similar geometrical figures. In these studies, however, items were used involving direct measures for area and volume as well…

Investigates the arithmetic and algebra word problem-solving skills and strategies of future primary and secondary school teachers. Describes the evolution of these skills and strategies from the beginning to the end of teacher education. Indicates that, in the education of preservice primary and secondary school teachers, there is need for an…