Both virtual and physical manipulatives are reported as effective learning tools when used with different groups of students in a variety of contexts to learn mathematical content. The use of multiple representations and the flexibility to translate among those representational forms facilitates students' learning and has the potential to deepen…

Two experiments assessed whether children's difficulty with word problems can be attributed to difficulty in comprehending abstract or ambiguous language. The subjects were 38 first-, 36 second-, and 36 third-graders. The resulting theory of arithmetic word problem solving may represent a theoretical problem-solving model. (TJH)