Learners in lower primary and even some in upper primary grades grapple to perform mathematical operations which involve fractions. Failure to solve these mathematical operations creates a gap in the teaching and learning processes of mathematics. We opine that this is attributed to use of traditional mathematical approaches of teaching and…

This paper explores young children's drawings (6 years old) in early number and addition activities in Malaysia. Observation, informal interviews and analysis of drawings revealed two types of drawing, and gave insight into the transitional process required for children to utilise drawings in problem solving. We argue the importance of valuing and…

Pupils' difficulties in solving word problems continue to attract attention: while researchers highlight the importance of relational reasoning and modelling, school curricula typically use short word problems to develop pupils' knowledge of arithmetic operations and calculation strategies. The Relational Paradigm attributes the leading role in…

Kayla was a 15 years old girl with Down syndrome attending a special education school in Indonesia. A modification of Wright et al.'s (2006) approach to assessment documented her number knowledge and arithmetical strategies. This paper discusses the assessment process and the results focusing on her ability to solve number problems. Results show…

This study aims to investigate the mathematical word problem-solving skills of preschool children 5-6 ages. To achieve this objective, the data were collected in four preschools (n = 162). A mathematical word problem test was used as data collection tools. In this study, it was found that the children's skills at solving mathematical word problems…

To better understand the role that ways of reasoning play in students' success on integer addition and subtraction problems, we examined the relationship between students' flexible use of ways of reasoning and their performance on integers open number sentences. Within groups of students in 3 participant groups--39 2nd and 4th graders who had…

Pat was a 19-year-old attending a Special School for the Intellectually Disabled in Indonesia. She was interviewed by the first author regarding her mental calculation strategies when solving 1- and 2-digit addition and subtraction problems. Results indicate that she was able to see ten as a unit composed of ten ones and was facile in using…

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 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…

Background: Several studies have examined young primary school children's use of strategies when solving simple addition and subtraction problems. Most of these studies have investigated students' strategy use as if they were isolated processes. To date, we have little knowledge about how math strategies in young students are related to other…

In this paper we discuss a study that looks at the kinds of practices that Latino parents use to support their children's learning of mathematics. Some of our findings reveal that parents react to their children's mathematics education looking back to their own experiences as students. Thus, in some cases, they are faced with pedagogical…

Investigates children's knowledge of concrete versions of additive composition, commutativity, and associativity. Reports that in study one, four-to five-year-olds (n=24) and five- to six-year-olds (n=25) judged the equivalence of conceptually related addition problems using groups of objects. States that in study two, five- to six-year-olds…

Over the past few years a substantial body of research has yielded evidence that the semantic structure of elementary arithmetic word problems influences children's strategies to solve them. The study reported in this document considered three other task characteristics in addition to semantic structure: (1) the order of presentation of the two…

Presented are four interpretive reports and a list of current publications of the Mathematics Work Group at the Wisconsin R&D Center. The first interpretive report gives a brief overview of their work. Reports two through four are concerned with individual interviews, carried out during a longitudinal study, in which primary children are asked to…

Reported are data from the first individual interview conducted in 1978 as part of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. The research program is attempting to relate pupil performance on selected arithmetic skills to pupil cognitive processes, instructional materials, and teachers' classroom behaviors. From three…