Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of the Sitting Together and Reaching to Play (START-Play) intervention in young infants with neuromotor disorders. Method: This randomized controlled trial compared usual care-early intervention (UC-EI) with START-Play plus UC-EI. Analyses included 112 infants with motor delay (55 UC-EI, 57…

The Learning by Making (LbyM) project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). As a five-year development project (2014-2018), Sonoma State University (SSU), in partnership with high-need schools and districts, has been developing an innovative, integrated high school Science, Technology, Engineering, and…

This study investigated the effectiveness of an instructional program (schema-based instruction, SBI) designed to teach 7th graders how to comprehend and solve proportion problems involving ratios/rates, scale drawings, and percents. The SBI program emphasized the underlying mathematical structure of problems via schematic diagrams, focused on a…

The effects of a mathematical problem-solving intervention on students' problem-solving performance and math achievement were measured in a randomized control trial with 1,059 7th-grade students. The intervention, "Solve It!," is a research-based cognitive strategy instructional intervention that was shown to improve the problem-solving…

In a series of two in vivo experiments, we examine whether correct and incorrect examples with prompts for self-explanation can be effective for improving students' conceptual understanding and procedural skill in Algebra when combined with guided practice. In Experiment 1, students working with the Algebra I Cognitive Tutor were randomly assigned…

Cognitive strategies are important tools for children with math difficulties (MD) in learning to solve word problems. The effectiveness of strategy training, however, depends on working memory capacity (WMC). Thus, children with MD but with relatively higher WMC are more likely to benefit from strategy training, whereas children with lower WMC may…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics will place more pressure on special education and math teachers to raise the skill levels of all students, especially those with disabilities in math (MD). The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of enhanced anchored instruction (EAI) on students with and without MD in co-taught general…

In this paper the augmentation of worked examples with animations for teaching problem-solving skills in mathematics is advocated as an effective instructional method. First, in a cognitive task analysis different knowledge prerequisites are identified for solving mathematical word problems. Second, it is argued that so called hybrid animations…

A pretest-posttest cluster-randomized trial involving 31 middle schools and 335 students with disabilities tested the effects of combining explicit and anchored instruction on fraction computation and problem solving. Results of standardized and researcher-developed tests showed that students who were taught with the blended units outscored…

Researchers in both cognitive science and mathematics education emphasize the importance of comparison for learning and transfer. However, surprisingly little is known about the advantages and disadvantages of what types of things are being compared. In this experimental study, 162 seventh- and eighth-grade students learned to solve equations (a)…

Forty-four Head Start classrooms were randomly assigned to enriched intervention (Head Start REDI--Research-based, Developmentally Informed) or "usual practice" conditions. The intervention involved brief lessons, "hands-on" extension activities, and specific teaching strategies linked empirically with the promotion of: (a)…

This study assessed the effects of preventative tutoring on the math problem solving of third-grade students with math and reading difficulties. Students (n = 35) were assigned randomly to continue in their general education math program or to receive secondary preventative tutoring 3 times per week, 30 min per session, for 12 weeks.…

Four fifth and sixth grade students with learning disabilities were taught a strategy for comprehending word problems and devising appropriate solutions. Following instruction performance on mixed sets of addition and subtraction word problems improved. Although generalization to a different setting occurred, maintenance was mixed. (Author/DB)

This study tested the effectiveness of an experimental instructional strategy for writing arithmetic sentences for simple multiplication and division story problems involving nonintegral factors. Significant effects in favor of the experimental group were found on an intermediate test and a posttest. (Author/CW)

Children begin school with the ability to use their informal and implicit conceptual knowledge to guide their problem solving, but shift to the use of superficial strategies in their attempts to solve word problems as they progress through school. This paper describes a study designed to investigate the effects of an instructional sequence that…