The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) publishes practice guides in education to bring the best available evidence and expertise to bear on current challenges in education. Authors of practice guides combine their expertise with the findings of rigorous research, when available, to develop specific recommendations for addressing these…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a computer-based story on sixth grade students' mathematics word problem solving achievement. Problems were embedded in a story presented on a computer, and then compared to a paper-based story and to a condition that presented the problems as typical, isolated words problems. One hundred…

Several decades ago, V. A. Krutetskii conducted a multiyear study to investigate the various types of thinking that academically advanced, or as he called them, gifted mathematicians used. Following an in-depth look at Krutetskii's nine ways of thinking, a model is proposed that will provide direction for teachers in selecting problems. The model…

This article describes how sixth-grade students developed concrete models to solve division of fractions story problems. Students developed separate two-step procedures to solve measurement and partitive problems, drawing on invented procedures for division of whole numbers. Errors also tended to be specific to the type of division problem…

Based on a synthesis of the literature, a model for problem posing cognitive processes was formulated, and validated. The major constructs incorporated in this framework were the situations in which problem posing occurs. For each situation, four cognitive processes were established: the editing of problems based on iconic or symbolic stimuli, the…