Effectively using strategies to solve complex problems is an important educational goal and is implicated in successful academic performance. However, people often do not spontaneously use the effective strategies unless they are motivated to do so. The present study was designed to test whether educating students about the importance of effort in…

The critical-thinking skill of problem solving needs to be part of the curriculum for all students, including those with learning disabilities living in poverty; yet, too often this is not the case. Too often students in poverty and students with learning disabilities are provided a curriculum that is watered down, focused on the basics, and aimed…

This study investigated how elementary teachers in a mathematics lesson study made sense of student learning, teaching, and content, as related to using representations in teaching multidigit subtraction, and how changes occurred over time in their talk and practice. The lesson-study process paved a group talk path along which teacher talk shifted…

This quasi-experimental exploratory study investigated whether a social-emotional learning program, implemented during a 1-year period, could lead to gains in social-emotional competencies and a reduction in internalizing and externalizing problems. Furthermore, it showed which pupils would benefit most from the program. The program was applied to…

The study's goal was to identify the beginning of 1st grade quantitative competencies that predict mathematics achievement start point and growth through 5th grade. Measures of number, counting, and arithmetic competencies were administered in early 1st grade and used to predict mathematics achievement through 5th (n = 177), while controlling for…

For the forty-fourth time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented online and onsite during the annual AECT Convention. Volume 1 contains papers dealing primarily with research and development topics. Papers dealing with…

This document shows the use of the calculator to assist in solving different divisions of students in fourth grade of elementary school, through the interaction in its components (divisor, dividend, quotient and remainder). Worksheets were used with a constructivist approach, which provided the student self-assessment tests. The teacher's role was…

This practice guide presents five recommendations intended to help educators improve students' understanding of, and problem-solving success with, fractions. Recommendations progress from proposals for how to build rudimentary understanding of fractions in young children; to ideas for helping older children understand the meaning of fractions and…

This preliminary study described fourth grade students verbally solving a mathematics problem using a think-aloud protocol. Comments in the think aloud were categorized according to type (e.g., paraphrases and elaborations) and facilitative nature (i.e., whether the comments facilitated correct solution of the problem). Amount of the students'…

Insects are fascinating creatures--especially when you and your students get up close and personal with them! To that end, the authors facilitated an inquiry-based investigation with an emphasis on identification of the different types of insects found in the school yard, their characteristics, their habitat, and what they eat, while engaging the…

This article features Sweet play math, a "math by the month" activity that involves decorating and making sugar cubes. Teachers may want to substitute straws, paper squares, alphabet blocks, or such commercially made manipulatives as Unifix[R] cubes for the real sweets. Given no allergy concerns, teachers and students alike would enjoy some sweet…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of online (web-based) creative problem-solving (CPS) activities on student technological creativity and to examine the characteristics of student creativity in the context of online CPS. A pretest-posttest quasi-experiment was conducted with 107 fourth-grade students in Taiwan. The…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are different growth trajectories of arithmetic strategies and whether these trajectories result in different achievement outcomes. Longitudinal data were collected on 240 students who began the study as 2nd graders. In the 1st year of the study, the 2nd-grade students were assessed on…

This study builds on two lines of research that have so far developed largely separately: the use of additive methods to solve proportional word problems and the use of proportional methods to solve additive word problems. We investigated the development with age of both kinds of erroneous solution methods. We gave a test containing missing-value…

The present study examined the relationship between Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) scores and mathematics problem solving scores. The reading fluency scores were obtained from the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy (DIBELS) assessment. The mathematics problem solving scores were obtained from the Indiana State Test of Education Progress Plus…