This qualitative document analysis study reports on opportunities to learn provided by textbooks for mathematics content courses for pre-service elementary teachers. Specifically, the study examined opportunities to engage in problem posing and quantitative reasoning, in the context of fractions, provided by six textbooks commonly used in the…

Many U.S. students possess only a weak knowledge of fraction arithmetic. I hypothesize that textbooks are a critical reason for students' poor performance on fraction arithmetic. This is not because of what textbooks contain but rather because of what they lack. Distributions of fraction arithmetic problems in textbooks are imbalanced, with…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a number line intervention with supported self-explanation on student understanding of fraction magnitude and quality of explanation. Participants were three U.S. middle school students with significant behavior problems. Participants were given eight lessons containing explicit instruction…

There is a strong need for fifth-grade students to become proficient in mathematical problem-solving using fractional computations because it will have a lasting impact on student achievement. Traditionally, mathematics is taught inside a brick-and-mortar classroom, grounded in rote memorization of facts, rules, and formulas. In recent years, more…

The purpose of this study is to assess the fraction addition problems posed by pre-service teachers using digital storytelling and to identify their perspectives on this activity. 69 mathematics teacher candidates participated in the study. The research comprises two sections. Participants were expected to pose a problem via digital storytelling…

PS-I learning approaches with an initial problem-solving phase (PS) followed by an instruction phase (I) can be optimised by providing adaptive (individualised) instruction that builds on students' problem-solving products. A computer-based implementation of both phases offers the possibility of adaptivity at the transition from the…

The aim of this work is to study the knowledge that 11 to 12-year-old pupils have about the different meanings of fractions. For this purpose, an investigation about the ability that 11 to 12-year-old pupils have with fraction problems through problem posing is performed. In particular, we analyze if they pose different types of problems depending…

A growing emphasis on computational thinking worldwide necessitates student proficiency in creating algorithms. Focusing on the use of counterexamples for developing student-invented algorithms, I reanalyze two pieces of data from previously published research, pertaining to two different cases of students' algorithmatizing activity. In both…

This article aims to show some activities based on non-routine problems with different levels of difficulty and from different classes that are integrated into the curriculum, additionally two spaces were opened for students to interact with recreational mathematics activities with the purpose of providing opportunities to all students access the…

The United Arab Emirates' vision of the 2021 National agenda aimed that its students rank among the best in the world in mathematics and the sciences. However, fractions remain a challenging topic for both teachers and students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of using digital games-based learning (ABACUS) on students'…

Effective math instruction is crucial for developing students' problem-solving abilities. This Spotlight explores key strategies and approaches to enhance math teaching and learning. From laying the foundation for algebra in kindergarten to improving understanding of fractions, these articles offer valuable perspectives. Discover how to help…

Students with learning disabilities often struggle to explore and apply problem-solving strategies to mathematical word problems, with challenges becoming particularly evident when learning fractions due to their abstract nature and conceptual complexity. This study investigated the effects of Solve It! strategy combined with video modeling on…

This article introduces unit transformation graphs (UTGs) as a tool for diagramming the ways students use sequences of mental actions to solve mathematical tasks. We report findings from a study in which we identified patterns in the ways preservice elementary school teachers relied on working memory to coordinate mental actions when operating in…

Background: Providing students with worked out problem solutions is a beneficial instructional technique in STEM disciplines, and studying examples that have been worked out incorrectly may be especially helpful for reducing misconceptions in students with low prior content knowledge. However, past results are inconclusive and the effects of…

This study was guided by the question, how do we understand the multiplicative reasoning of upper high school students and use that to give insight to their performance on a standardized test? After administering a partial ACT assessment to a class of high school students, we identified students to make comparisons between low and high scoring…