Discusses the place of math, mathematicians, and math education in society. Argues that the United States needs a better integration of numbers and sense, an active integration of math and semantics ("mathsemantics"), and a new outlook in which people ask and know what the numbers mean. (SR)

Fourth grade students participated in mental arithmetic activities for eight weeks. Posttests revealed that the experimental group performed significantly higher than the control group on arithmetic problem solving and arithmetic computation. Females appeared to benefit more from the instructional program than males. (KS)

Comparison of scores of 166 undergraduates on the Mathematics American College Test, Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale, and an outcome expectation scale showed that self-efficacy mediated the effects of past achievement on interest in math. Achievement and self-efficacy predicted math grades; outcome expectation and self-efficacy predicted interest…

Kindergarten children whose mathematics curriculum included the use of children's literature scored higher on measures of mathematics achievement; used a larger mathematics vocabulary; and showed more interest in mathematics than did children whose curriculum did not include children's literature. (BC)

Summarizes results of a longitudinal study on the development of mathematics achievement and choice behavior of boys and girls aged 12 to 15 in (Dutch) secondary schools. Although gender differences in choosing mathematics as a final examination project do exist, they can only partially be explained by differences in math achievement. (Contains 18…

Presents high school students' responses to a yearly writing assessment which asked them to explain why there are discrepancies in the performances of males and females in reading and math. Finds that the largest category of responses was "the way things are," followed by the equally broad categories of work, society, school, and logic. (SR)

Reports the results of students' performance as measured by grades after the completion of the first three-quarters of calculus using the materials of the Calculus Consortium based at Harvard University. The results are presented in graphical form. The improvement is dramatic for the weaker students and moderate or none for the better students.…

A case study is presented of an eight-year-old girl who, despite very high intelligence in general, exhibited underachievement in math. By modifying her self-defeating definitions of task difficulty, educators and her parents were able to encourage her and improve her math achievement to be commensurate with her general intelligence. (Author/PB)

Reading and math testing in inner London of 112 Black, 182 White children at end of primary school and 79 and 119 from this sample at age 11 found girls, especially Black girls, progressed more in reading in primary school; and boys progressed more in math initially, girls tended to catch up later, and Black boys fell behind. (SK)

Examined Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT) and parent involvement interventions on mathematics achievement of academically at-risk fourth and fifth graders (n=84). Found that students who received RPT plus parent involvement displayed higher levels of accurate mathematics computations than either RPT Only or control students and that students in RPT…

In the grade 12 portion of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Canadian students performed better than other participating G-8 countries. In fact, Canada scored consistently above the international mean for all three age groups tested. However, some educators and reformers have expressed dissatisfaction with these results. (MLH)

Studied the different enrollment rates of the sexes at four types of German secondary schools to attempt to explain the finding from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of no significant differences in mathematics achievement between males and females. Sex differences disappear because more girls benefit from the higher…

Compares student achievement based upon which calculus program--traditional calculus, Harvard Consortium Calculus, or Calculus Using Mathematica--the student completed. Finds some differences when students took different types of calculus during subsequent terms. Justifies teaching reformed calculus in place of traditional calculus. (Author/ASK)

Investigates the effects of an instructional intervention derived from the Garofalo and Lester cognitive-metacognitive framework on the problem-solving performance of year six students with different ability levels. Concludes that there was significant improvement in problem-solving performance for the experimental class compared to the control…

Uses data from the Trial State Assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress to describe and illustrate a two-stage statistical model for investigating state-to-state variation in mathematics achievement. Results reveal considerable state-to-state heterogeneity in mathematics proficiency, but most heterogeneity is explainable on…