This study examined how word-problem characteristics influenced students' learning and retention of word-problem knowledge during and after an intervention. The participants were 221 fourth-grade students (average age at pretest = 8.8 years) who experienced word-problem difficulties (WPD) and had received a word-problem intervention in third…

The aim of this study is to investigate Norwegian primary school students' multimodal mathematical reasoning when solving combinatorial problems. The data collection took place in four small groups of altogether thirteen 8-9 years old third-graders. Our study shows a variety of approaches used to solve the given combinatorial problems, such as…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the reflections that arise during the implementation of mathematical modeling activities with third-grade primary school students. To achieve this goal, a case study methodology was employed. The study consisted of 9 third-grade students (average age 8), selected through purposive sampling from a public…

This study describes how 24 third graders (8-9 years old) relate and represent the relationships between variables when working with a functional thinking problem. This aspect contributes to providing insights about how elementary school students attend properties and relationships between covarying quantities rather than isolated computations.…

A theoretical model describing young students' (Grade 3) arithmetic-algebraic structure sense was formulated and validated empirically (n = 130), hypothesizing that young students' arithmetic-algebraic structure sense consists of five distinct but correlated factors; structure in numerical equivalence and word-problem modeling, structure in…

Do you work tirelessly to make your math lessons meaningful, challenging, accessible, and engaging? Do you spend hours you don't have searching for, adapting, and creating tasks to provide rich experiences for your students that supplement your mathematics curriculum? Help has arrived! "Classroom Ready-Rich Math Tasks for Grades 2-3"…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics's "Principles to Actions" (NCTM, 2014) cites posing purposeful questions and eliciting and using evidence of student thinking as effective mathematics teaching practices. Interviewing students creates opportunities for teachers to develop these practices. Through interviewing, they can try…

Students in the elementary grades often experience difficulty setting up and solving word problems. Using an equation to represent the structure of the problem serves as an effective tool for solving word problems, but students may require specific pre-algebraic reasoning instruction about the equal sign as a relational symbol to set up and solve…

Students in grades 3-5 are undergoing significant cognitive growth and beginning to understand what fairness and equity mean in a diverse and interconnected world. "Modern Math Tasks to Provoke Transformational Thinking" presents carefully crafted tasks that nurture multi-disciplinary literacies, including ecological and cultural…

Creativity is not only for gifted students, but also for regular ones. This case study was aimed to analyze the appropriateness of tasks and the elaboration of multiple solutions to occasion fourth-graders' mathematical creative thinking through a documentary multiple-solution counting task in a figurative setting. The data came from the written…

We describe 24 third (8-9 years old) and 24 fifth (10-11 years old) graders' generalization working with the same problem involving a function. Generalizing and representing functional relationships are considered key elements in a functional approach to early algebra. Focusing on functional relationships can provide insights into how students…

Drawing on research around the utility of worked examples, we examine how 29 first- and 27 third-grade students made sense of integer subtraction worked examples and used those examples to solve similar problems. Students first chose which of three worked examples correctly represented an integer subtraction problem and used the example to solve a…

In 2015 an urban school district reported that 84.6% of third graders did not demonstrate proficiency on the Math Standardized Test, which challenges students to solve problems and justify solutions. Since 2006 there has been a negative trend of proficiency levels on the New York State (NYS) Math Exam in third grade. I propose that students may be…

This study investigated which domain-specific and domain-general skills measured at grade 1 predict mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) status at grade 3. We used different cut-off criteria and measures of mathematics performance for defining the MLD status. Norwegian children's (N = 206) numeracy, cognitive, and language skills were measured…

Moving from arithmetic to algebraic thinking at early grades is foundational in the study of number patterns and number relationships. This qualitative study investigates mental computational activity in a third grade classroom's and its relationship to algebraic thinking and reasoning. The data sources include classroom observations, field notes,…