We investigated whether three interventions -- studying incorrect worked examples, studying correct worked examples, or receiving feedback -- improved children's 0-1,000 (Experiment 1) and adults' 1 thousand--1 billion (Experiment 2) number-line estimation precision relative to a no intervention control group. At pretest, participants estimated…

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…

With regard to transfer, is it better to provide pupils with ready-made representations or is it more effective to scaffold pupils' thinking in the process of generating their own representations with the help of peers and under the guidance of a teacher in a process of guided co-construction? The sample comprises 10 classes and 239 Grade 5…

Assesses the contribution of self-regulated learning strategies (SRL), when combined with problem-solving transfer instruction, on 3rd-graders' mathematical problem solving. SRL incorporated goal setting and self-evaluation. Contrasts the effectiveness of transfer plus SRL to the transfer treatment alone and to teacher-designed instruction. SRL…

Assesses the effects of explicitly teaching for transfer by broadening the categories by which students group problems requiring the same solution methods and prompting students to search novel problems for these broad categories. This transfer treatment was combined with instruction on solution methods. Improvement on immediate- and near-transfer…

Mathematical problem solving is a transfer challenge requiring children to develop schemas for recognizing novel problems as belonging to familiar problem types for which they know solutions. Schema-based transfer instruction (SBTI) explicitly teaches transfer features that change problems in superficial ways to make them appear novel even though…

A question-answering strategy for problem solving is described, and the effects of instruction in that strategy on student learning are examined in a computer-assisted context involving 46 fifth graders. The reasons students trained in guided questions performed better are discussed. (SLD)