Estimation skills are critical for students in the 21st century. The ability to estimate or approximate is widely accepted as fundamental to problem solving, and important for checking the reasonableness of results. (Dowker, 2003; Reys & Reys, 1989). Therefore, estimation should be an important aspect of problem solving in all year levels but…

Developing an understanding of fractions is critical and is an educational focus, as reflected in national standards and principles. This study conducted a quantitative synthesis of 22 experimental studies to investigate the overall efficacy of previously conducted fraction interventions compared to standard instruction. Instruction type and…

Challenging mathematics problems were posed as a substantial part of homework in an elective combinatorics course. The intent was to encourage undergraduate students' exploration as well as develop their technical writing skills. The bulk of students' grades on these problems rested on a three-page reflective write-up using a rubric on…

In this study, the middle school mathematics teachers' knowledge of division of fractions was investigated through the strategies that they proposed and the problems that they posed for division of fractions. The data was collected from 22 middle school mathematics teachers through the task and semi-structured interviews. The data of this case…

In this paper, we propose a potential interactional explanation of tertiary-to-secondary (dis)continuity: that of authority relations. Using secondary mathematics teachers' proof validations across two contexts, we suggest that secondary teachers' conceptions of authority shape their capacity to reconcile their positions as former mathematics…

The aim of this paper is to share part of an ongoing study in which we are interested in introducing a Gallery Walk (GW) as an instructional strategy to contemplate in the classroom, in the context of preservice teacher training for elementary education (6-12 years old), to promote students' mathematical knowledge and skills, through problem…

Focusing on students with mild disabilities, this study aimed to examine the effect of STAR problem solving strategy on their a) solving change problems involving one-step addition and subtraction, b) maintaining their acquisition of solving change problems involving one-step addition and subtraction after 1, 3, and 5 weeks, c) generalizing their…

In this classroom note, we describe the use of a wiki to aggregate student solutions to calculation-based mathematics problems. We outline the setup of the wiki used to support this project, the administrative issues involved in running a wiki, and student reaction to the wiki project. We will describe how students participated, and were assessed,…

This article discusses the importance of visual models in problem solving, in the scope of rational numbers. We seek to highlight the potential of this approach, as a structuring theme in the mathematical development of students in elementary education and the connections it allows to establish. In order for students to be mathematically competent…

At the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic, our interdisciplinary team hypothesized that a mathematical misconception--whole number bias (WNB)--contributed to beliefs that COVID-19 was less fatal than the flu. We created a brief online educational intervention for adults, leveraging evidence-based cognitive science…

In three experiments, I first examined the correlation between the presence of transformation of stimulus function (TSF) across computation and the presence of TSF across saying and writing for spelling words, and then tested the effects of the establishment of TSF across saying and writing on the establishment of TSF across math operants. Eight…

The effectiveness of group problem-solving in mathematics depends on the extent to which meaningful participation is distributed across all group members. One way to explore how participation is distributed within groups is by examining how students are positioned within group interactions. In this study, we explore the social instructional…

Although children learn more when teachers gesture, it is not clear "how" gesture supports learning. Here, we sought to investigate the nature of the memory processes that underlie the observed benefits of gesture on lasting learning. We hypothesized that instruction with gesture might create memory representations that are particularly…

This article illustrates how teachers can use number lines to support students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LD) in mathematics. Number lines can be strategically used to help students understand relations among numbers, approach number combinations (i.e., basic facts), as well as represent and solve addition and subtraction problems.…

"Assumptions" play a fundamental role in disciplinary mathematical practice, especially concerning the relativity of truth. However, much is still unclear about ways to help students recognize key aspects of this role. In this paper, we propose a set of principles for task design to introduce students to the role of assumptions in…