The aim of the study reported on here was to assess the impact of differentiated instruction in terms of mathematics achievement and the attitudes of secondary school learners to reveal their views on differentiated instruction. The study was designed according to a mixed method design in which both quantitative and qualitative methods were used.…

Background: Digital game-based learning is gaining increased attention from both researchers and educators for improving mathematics instruction. However, the evidence for game-based learning is mixed and research with rigorous research design and analyses are limited. Objective: Here, in a pre-registered randomized controlled study, we…

Fractions remain a challenging area of school mathematics at every stage of education, with impacts that extend far beyond the school years. For this study, researchers engaged in classroom-based design research over a 6-year period to investigate effective strategies for teaching fractions with Canadian students. Participants included 86 teachers…

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the differences between high- and low-performing students' development of fraction proficiency over a school year and to investigate how those differences were related to instruction in fractions versus instruction in other mathematics topics. The data for this study were drawn from a group of (n =…

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 intention of the study was to examine the effects of a fraction intervention in a whole-class environment. The intervention aimed to enhance students' conceptual fraction knowledge, with a major focus on fraction magnitude understanding. This study included 120 fifth-grade students in standard classroom settings. Utilizing a cluster randomized…

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…

This study aimed to examine the effect of using Excel in teaching fractions in a 6th grade mathematics course on students' academic achievement and attitudes. To achieve this, a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group was implemented. The research involved 62 students from a public secondary school in a central province of…

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…

Fractions remains a difficult topic for primary preservice teachers (PST). This paper analyses a PST teaching episode using the "Refined Consensus Model" (RCM) of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) to explore challenges faced by PST in acquiring specialised knowledge for effective fractions teaching. Data include semi-structured…

Teachers across the United States struggle with meeting students' needs in their classrooms amidst the growing diversity of children in their classrooms and the amplification of standardized testing. Time and again, teaching with the heart and action of inclusivity is placed on the back burner as teachers feel the pressure for students to perform…

Learning the concept of fractions is among the most challenging topics in school mathematics. One of the main sources of difficulties in learning fractions is related to "natural number bias" (Van Hoof, Verschaffel & Van Dooren, 2015). Applying properties of the natural numbers incorrectly in situations involving rational numbers can…

A one-on-one dialogue-based mathematics intelligent tutoring system (ITS) for learning multiplication and division of fractions was developed and evaluated in this study. This system could identify students' error types and misconceptions in real-time by using a block-based matching method. The adaptive dialogue-based instruction was supported by…

In this study, our team observed sixth grade teachers as they taught fractions to students in their mathematics intervention classes to see whether they were including motivational-supportive messages within the framework of Situated Expectancy-Value Theory. Messages in the intervention lessons and teacher transcripts were explored and analyzed,…

Preservice teachers (PSTs) often demonstrate difficulty learning to attend to content-specific student actions in-the-moment. However, machine learning algorithms applied to PSTs' viewing of 360 videos provides a potentially useful tool for teacher educators. In this paper, we describe the initial development of such a tool and the implications…