This issue of the journal contains abstracts and critiques of 11 research reports. They concern: a case study of one child's strategies for mental addition; children's understanding of fractions; computation routines prescribed by schools; models in verbal problem solving; predicting eighth-grade algebra achievement; the effectiveness of…

Compares the relative difficulty of four types of word problems. Other variables considered are grade level, sex, order of testing, and performance on a computational skills test. (MK)

Investigated gender differences in problem-solving and computational strategies used by 44 boys and 38 girls as they progressed from grades 1 to 3. Found no gender differences in solving number fact, addition/subtraction, or nonroutine problems but strong gender differences in strategies used to solve problems. Discusses the use of invented…

The differences in responses of grade 6 boys and girls to selected items on a standardized test are examined. Data are the responses of approximately 36,000 children during 1978-79 to two test forms of the California Assessment Program's Survey of Basic Skills: Grade 6 (SBS:6). Performance on specific arithmetic items is studied and involves the…

A 2-year study of mathematics performance of sixth-grade students was conducted to: (1) determine the extent to which previously reported sex differences in California data exist and influence student response; (2) examine the predominant successful and unsuccessful strategies used by sixth-grade students in solving story problems; (3) discover to…

Abstracts of 12 mathematics education research reports and critical comments (by the abstractors) about the reports are provided in this issue of Investigations in Mathematics Education. The reports are: "More Precisely Defining and Measuring the Order-Irrelevance Principle" (Arthur Baroody); "Children's Relative Number Judgments:…

Issues in school mathematics programs are considered in this book. In the first section, mathematics education at the start of the decade is examined through two articles: a discussion of the status of mathematics programs and of prospects for the 80s, and an interpretation of the results of the second national mathematics assessment of the…

This research study was conducted to investigate the interactions of specific student aptitudes with their ability to solve chemistry problems of varying structure and information. Fourteen classroom quizzes were validated and a number of in-task variables were identified for analysis. These variables included: the nature of information given…

Using data from the Survey of Basic Skills administered to approximately 300,000 California sixth graders, this study examines sex differences on two types of mathematics items. Probability for success is greater for girls in solving computations and for boys in solving story problems. Relationships to other influential factors are examined.

This issue contains abstracts and critical comments for 11 articles. Three articles focus on problem solving; the remainder concern understanding of the equals sign, mathematical structure, mathematical abilities, the role of language in tasks involving sets, sex differences in mathematical errors, subtraction, algorithms as schemes, and…

The dissertation abstracts in this compilation all appeared in "Dissertation Abstracts International" in 1983. The 300 dissertations cited in the annual listing of research in the July 1984 issue of the "Journal for Research in Mathematics Education" are included, as well as 55 dissertations which were located but could not be…

This report describes and interprets findings from the 1981-82 national mathematics assessment, the third such assessment conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The results show a leveling off of the performance of American 17-year-olds, who had shown a decline between 1978 and 1982; 9-year-olds' performance has changed…

Item characteristic curves were compared across gender and socioeconomic status (SES) groups for the university entrance mathematics examination in Turkey to see if any group had an advantage in solving computation, word-problem, or geometry questions. Differential item functioning was found, and patterns are discussed. (SLD)

In general, studies investigating sex differences in mathematics performance have empirically analyzed students' responses from standardized tests. This paper reports a study to extend the investigation of sex differences related to mathematics performance by examining cognitive and motivational factors as well as standardized test scores. Boys…

Promotes mathematics instruction that goes beyond computation and problem solving, attempting to make children the "posers of problems." Addresses differences in hemisphericity, processing, and learning styles, as well as maturation differences, sex differences, effects of stimulation, enriched environments, emotion, and the control of attention.…