To understand misconceptions with rational numbers (i.e., fractions, decimals, and percentages), we administered an assessment of rational numbers to 331 undergraduate students from a 4-year university. The assessment included 41 items categorized as measuring foundational understanding, calculations, or word problems. We coded each student's…

In the study reported on here I evaluated the alignment between the Annual National Assessment (ANA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Theoretical perspectives were drawn from the Survey Enacted Curriculum (SEC), while quantitative correlational methods were used to determine the alignment between ANA and TIMSS…

Fifteen elementary and secondary teacher candidates solved sixteen integer addition and subtraction problems during think-aloud interviews. Investigators further probed participants' solution strategies as well as what they noticed first when starting a new problem. Task analyses of participants' solutions led to the creation of two distinct maps…

This report summarizes findings of current research supported by the Office of Special Education Programs on effective mathematics instruction for students with disabilities. The first brief article notes that most special education teachers do not have sufficient knowledge about the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards and this…

Many elementary and junior high school students do not become proficient with common and decimal fractions because they have established few connections between the form they learn in the classroom and understandings they already have. (Author/GC)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administered the selected supplemental mathematics exercises to 13-year-old students during October and November 1975 and to 17-year-old students during March and April 1976. This assessment represents a specially modified supplement to 1972-73 full-scale mathematics assessment and was…

This text explores teaching techniques and adaptations that have proven effective in teaching mathematics concepts and skills to students with learning disabilities. This fourth edition, consistent with the standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000, continues to emphasize problem solving, number sense, student…

Based on suggestions of participants at the second annual Instructional Methods Forum held in June 1989, the monograph considers cognitive-based approaches to teaching mathematics to students with learning problems. It addresses identification of characteristics of successful cognitive approaches and the role of media and materials. An…

This publication is an abstracted compilation of 15 investigations selected from other journals. The information includes purpose, rationale, research design and procedures, findings, interpretations, abstractor's comments, and references. This journal includes the following reports: (1) "A Constructivist Approach to Numeration in Primary…

This issue of the journal contains abstracts and critiques of ten research reports. They address such topics as: (1) characterizing the Van Hiele levels of development in geometry; (2) children's ideas about commutativity in the early elementary arithmetic program; (3) two children's anticipations, beliefs and motivations about mathematics; (4) a…

The problem of placing stamps on a grid is presented, with variable forms of the problem and various levels of the solution described. (MNS)

This booklet is a teacher's guide for a lesson, appropriate for grades 3-9, to strengthen students' mathematics skills while increasing their knowledge of energy. It consists of a game in which teams of students solve mathematics problems about energy units. The booklet contains 24 challenging mathematics word problems and 1 mega-question. (MKR)

This book contains a set of versatile enrichment exercises that cover a very broad range of mathematical topics and applications in pre-algebra from the Moebius strip to the googol. Several criteria have been used in developing the activities and selecting the topics that are included. All of them bear heavily and equally on concerns for…

A case is made for a comprehensive curriculum that includes strong competencies with not only number ideas and computation, but also with other mathematical topics such as geometry, statistics, probability, and estimation. (MP)

This paper is a translation of a report on two Swedish investigations concerning children's lack of understanding of the quantitative value of numbers (specifically, decimals and fractions). (MN)