The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a preschool program on achievement of first through fourth grade students in reading and math. The subjects of this study were 208 elementary students from the Estill County (Kentucky) School District. All the students were white, from low to middle socioeconomic classes. The experimental…

This paper describes the implications of constructivism both for what to teach and for how to teach. The first part discusses three approaches on what to teach: (1) relating mathematical knowledge to other knowledge; (2) checking for self-consistency; and (3) putting thinking before facts. The second part is on how to teach based on…

Two of the most widely used academic self-efficacy assessment techniques, problem-referenced measurement and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were compared. Participants were 383 high school students from 4 Los Angeles (California) schools. Multi-trait multi-method analyses revealed that the two techniques were not…

This study was conducted in response to the perceived problems of growing non-participation rates of students in mathematics courses, particularly at Year 12 and beyond, and the decline in skill levels of students entering tertiary courses in science and mathematics. There are signs that mathematics has been devalued by society and the education…

This report is one of a series from a project entitled Case Studies in Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Mediated Instruction and Distributed Learning. This project examines the benefits and costs of the mediated learning system (MLS) courseware for remedial mathematics developed by Academic Systems Corporation. Comparisons were made at two…

Receipt of welfare is often negatively correlated with children's outcomes. However, because virtually all children who live in households that receive public assistance are poor, the question arises whether poor child outcomes are truly an effect of welfare, have only a spurious relationship to welfare receipt, or are a result of welfare…

This booklet provides an overview of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Key findings from the Pursuing Excellence series of reports for each grade level as well as overall comparative findings are detailed. At the fourth grade level, U.S. students were above the international average in both science and mathematics. In…

This paper discusses an experiment designed to determine the effects of a problem-solving approach to instruction (PSAI) on eighth grade Algebra I students. Comparisons were made of the scores from the 1991 and 1993 Subject Area Testing Program--Algebra I of skills taught via PSAI and skills taught traditionally. In 1991 (n=56) eighth grade…

The 46 diagnostic mathematics tests cited in this bibliography are instruments to aid in analyzing students' strengths and weaknesses in various mathematical areas to provide more effective instruction. This document is one in a series of topical bibliographies from the Test Collection (TC) at Educational Testing Service (ETS) containing…

Legislative authority for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Act, one of the principal sources of Federal funding to improve mathematics and science instruction in elementary and secondary schools, expires during the 103d Congress. This report provides background data and analysis for the reauthorization of the Eisenhower…

This paper examines the process of developing a measuring instrument to measure basic skills in mathematics for those students entering post-secondary vocational education programs. The paper is organized around the steps in the process of developing such an instrument. The first section addresses the need to define conceptually the construct of…

The first Standard Grade courses have been in place in Scotland for almost ten years. This document reports on a study with the following goals: (1) to describe the actual mathematical competencies of pupils gaining grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Standard Grade Mathematics; (2) to describe the competencies shown in school work by pupils failing to…

The Calculators in Primary Mathematics Project in Australia was a long-term investigation into the effects of the introduction of calculators on the learning and teaching of primary mathematics. The Australian project commenced with children who were in kindergarten and grade 1 in 1990, moving up through the schools to grade 4 level by 1993.…

Precalculus and Discrete Mathematics (PDM) is the sixth and final course in the secondary mathematics curriculum developed by the University of Chicago (Illinois) School Mathematics Project. During the 1989-90 academic year, a formative evaluation of the third field-trial edition of PDM was conducted among a volunteer sample of 9 high schools with…

Two studies were conducted to compare experimentally the effects of teacher-led instruction and seatwork on acquiring mathematical concepts. In the first study, 255 fourth graders were assigned to groups to be taught a 15-minute teacher-led lesson only, a 15-minute lesson plus 12 minutes of teacher-led follow-up, or a 15-minute lesson plus 12…