Whole Number Arithmetic (WNA) appears as the very first topic in school mathematics and establishes the foundation for later mathematical content. Without solid mastery of WNA, students may experience difficulties in learning fractions, ratio and proportion, and algebra. The challenge of students' learning and mastery of fractions, decimals, ratio…

Whole number arithmetic is the foundation of higher mathematics and a core part of elementary mathematics. Awareness of pattern and underlying problem structure promote the learning of whole number arithmetic. A growing consensus has emerged on the necessity to provide students with the opportunity to engage in algebraic reasoning earlier in their…

The study explored the effects of a computer-assisted COnceptual Model-based Problem-Solving (COMPS) program on multiplicative word-problem-solving performance of students with learning disabilities or difficulties. The COMPS program emphasizes mathematical modeling with algebraic expressions of relations. Participants were eight fourth and fifth…

This study compared one lesson across four U.S. "traditional" textbook series, two U.S. reform-based textbook series, and one Chinese mathematics textbook series in teaching the connection between multiplication and division. The results showed the differences across U.S. and Chinese lessons in both the teaching and the practice parts of…

This study addressed the problem of why students with learning disabilities in mathematics too often fail to develop multiplicative and divisional concepts/operations. We conducted a constructivist teaching experiment with 12 students (nine 5th and three 4th graders). This report focuses on three students' conceptual progress, particularly on…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a schema-based instructional strategy that emphasizes prealgebraic conceptualization of multiplicative relations on solving arithmetic word problems with elementary students with learning disabilities or problems (LP). Introducing symbolic representation and algebraic thinking in earlier…

Borrowing the concept of story grammar from reading comprehension literature, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teaching "word problem (WP) story grammar" on arithmetic WP solving that emphasizes the algebraic expression of mathematical relations in conceptual models. Participants were five students in Grades 4 and 5 with or…