This issue of the journal contains abstracts and critiques of ten research reports. They address such topics as: (1) characterizing the Van Hiele levels of development in geometry; (2) children's ideas about commutativity in the early elementary arithmetic program; (3) two children's anticipations, beliefs and motivations about mathematics; (4) a…

In an effort to present important research results in readable form for elementary and secondary teachers of mathematics, this publication reviews a model and ways of effectively teaching mathematics. The model of instruction proposed by Good and Grouws is based on teacher-centered whole class instruction. Perspectives and guidance are offered in…

This paper is the second of a series of four reports that document the achievement monitoring component of a three-year study on the acquisition of addition-subtraction problem-solving skills by young children. A set of performance objectives contained in or ancillary to 10 instructional units on sentence-writing for verbal problems and algorithms…

This paper reports research into the linguistic and extra-linguistic or social-cognitive structure of problem presentation contexts. The effects of textual and social syntax were investigated, including the specific structure of the problem text by which situations, processes, actions, and number relations are implicitly or explicitly expressed,…

This project was based on recent interview research which suggested that in choosing operations for story problems in mathematics many students are guided by computational considerations rather than meanings for the operations. This project aimed to refine the catalogue of strategies used by students and to design and test instructional materials…

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference presents the following research reports: (1) Text Talk, Body Talk, Table Talk: A Design of Ratio and Proportion as Classroom Parallel Events (Dor Abrahamson); (2) Generalizing the Context and Generalising the Calculation (Janet Ainley); (3) Interview…

Reviews two programs: (1) "The Weather Machine" on understanding weather and weather forecasting and (2) "The Mystery of the Hotel Victoria" on problem solving in mathematics. Presents the descriptions, advantages, and weaknesses of the software. (YP)

Describes one unit on analyzing and writing mystery stories in a problem-solving seminar for seventh graders that incorporates the use of television, cooperative learning, and reading and writing in the mathematics class. Provides a sample activity sheet and examples of seventh-grade mystery stories. (Contains 14 references.) (MDH)

Suggests activities that use a variety of communication modes to help students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics. Highlights include writing projects such as student journals and creating word problems; problem-solving software; the use of games, oral presentations, charts, models, and graphs; reading activities; and developing…

Presents the six major components of the Directed Reading Activity strategy: Developing Vocabulary, Building Background and motivation, Setting the Purpose, Guiding Silent Reading, Questioning to Determine Comprehension, and Rereading, as applied to mathematical problem solving, resulting in a directed mathematics activity. (MDH)

Presents the method of employing student-written playlets and a technique called "stage freeze" to help students identify appropriate operations during problem solving. Provides five sample playlets, a description of the method, and several beneficial results from using the method. (MDH)

Presented are the results of an extra-credit assignment to a group of intermediate-algebra students, which entailed the writing of word problems in poetic form. Included is the history of such writing from the trivial pursuitlike games of the Middle Ages in India. (JJK)

Discusses how actual or planned travel experiences can form the basis for constructing realistic, challenging, and interesting problem-solving tasks for classroom use. Provides examples of how teachers and students can create travel problems for use in the classroom. The travel-problem concept is adaptable to any elementary, secondary, or…

Writers of mathematics test items, especially those who write for standardized tests, are often advised to arrange the answer options in logical order, usually ascending or descending numerical order. In this study, 32 mathematics items were selected for inclusion in four experimental pretest units, each consisting of 16 items. Two versions…

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…