This study examined effects of contextualized math instruction on problem-solving performance of 17 middle school remedial students and 49 average-achieving prealgebra students. Results showed that both remedial and average students receiving contextualized-problem instruction outperformed comparison groups receiving word-problem instruction.…

Deals with the importance of problem solving and how cooperative learning can play a role in helping students solve problems. Emphasizes the importance of communicating mathematical concepts through reading, writing, and discussing. Gives specific suggestions for implementing cooperative learning in the classroom. Presents a classroom example of…

Explores the role of software tools in geometry problem solving and how these tools, in interaction with activities that embed the goals of teachers and students, mediate the problem solving process. Through analysis of successful student responses, shows how dynamic software tools can not only scaffold the solution process but also help students…

Describes use of focused prompts with student journals in a college mathematics course at Ohio State University. Students were asked to complete two writing tasks weekly to describe what they had learned from specific topics, and work out one problem in detail, with explanatory notes describing errors and false starts. Students' attitude toward…

Observed gesture and speech to investigate patterns of change in third and fourth graders' strategies for solving mathematical equivalence problems before and after an intervention. Children who received instruction were more likely to generate new strategies. Gradual change was more common. Abrupt strategy change was more common in children who…

This paper describes how eighth-grade students in a remedial math class were able to match the problem solving performance of comparison students in a pre-algebra class. It discusses the use of video-based anchored instruction linked to applied problems to develop students' understanding and skills. (Contains references.) (DB)

Background: Research on the relationship between cognitive skills and mathematical problem solving is usually conducted on adults or on participants with acquired deficits associated with brain injury (e.g. Cipolotti, 1995; Cohen, Dehaene, & Verstichel, 1994; McCloskey, 1992). Aims: In these studies we wanted to make a contribution to the…

The purposes of this study were to assess the effects of schema-based instruction (SBI) in promoting mathematical problem solving and to investigate schema induction as a mechanism in the development of mathematical problem solving. Twenty-four 3rd-grade teachers, with 366 students, were assigned randomly to conditions that provided instruction on…

For students to develop an understanding of functions, they must have opportunities to solve problems that require them to transfer between algebraic, numeric, and graphic representations (transfer problems). Research has confirmed student difficulties with certain types of transfer problems and has suggested instructional factors as a possible…

This article describes an activity where children develop reasoning skills by using mathematical clues to decide whether there is one, more than one, or no solutions to a problem. (Contains 4 figures.)

We describe two classes of sequences that give rise to accessible problems for undergraduate research. These problems may be understood with virtually no prerequisites and are well suited for computer-aided investigation. The first sequence is a variation of one introduced by Stephen Wolfram in connection with his study of cellular automata. The…

This paper provides a pragmatic view of efficient use of graphics calculators. Efficiency is described in terms of quick and easy calculation, as debated and evidenced in a Year 12 calculus class. Students' methods of calculation are analysed in terms of the algebraic understanding and technical skills that underpinned them. Patterns in students'…

This study investigated the impact of the TI-92 handheld Computer Algebra System (CAS) on student achievement in a discrete mathematics course. Specifically, the researchers examined the differences between a CAS section and a control section of discrete mathematics on students' in-class examinations. Additionally, they analysed student approaches…

Background: This study examined the effects of different approaches to teaching learners with mild intellectual disabilities to solve mathematical word problems. Method: Thirty Chinese students with mild intellectual disabilities from a special school in Hong Kong were taught using conventional instruction, worked example instruction, and…

The aim of the research presented in this paper is to contribute to our knowledge about problem solving in mathematics. My purpose in this paper is to compare, from this point of view, two very different institutions in the French tertiary education system, with the intention to interpret the chronic inequality of performance in problem solving…