Presents the major findings identified by a commission that examined research issues in diagnostic and prescriptive mathematics. Addresses the diagnostic process with regard to curriculum, instruction, learners, teacher education, clinics, and the mathematics education community. (TW)

Describes a study designed to investigate the relationship between students' learning of the standard double-digit addition algorithm and basic fact mastery or numeration concepts. Results suggest basic fact mastery and knowledge of numeration concepts may not be as necessary as previously assumed to learning multidigit addition. (PK)

Provides a review of the literature related to math anxiety, indicating that society needs to eradicate the myth that females are more anxious about mathematics than males. Several options for eliminating math avoidance and math anxiety are considered. (JN)

Investigates the relationship between the strategies used by preservice elementary teachers in geometric problem solving and two primary mental abilities--spatial visualization and formal reasoning. Reports that the two abilities were related to problem-solving performance, and the strategies used were related to achievement in the geometry…

Describes a research methodology known as the teaching experiment and details an example of a teaching experiment aimed at the development of a process-oriented algebra curriculum. Addresses other possible variations of the teaching experiment, emphasizing the cooperation of teachers and researchers. (TW)

Describes school effectiveness characteristics and student characteristics in schools that made an improvement in academic achievement of Black students. The characteristics were orderly environment, clear school mission, high expectations, opportunity to learn, and frequent monitoring. (YP)

The study investigated which addition facts children and preservice teachers view as being difficult, whether it is possible to determine facts which are difficult for all children, and whether children and adults agree on which facts are difficult. Results indicated that children and adults disagree about the difficulty of facts. (PK)

This paper presents a method of assessing math anxiety based on self-reported descriptors used to evaluate various personality traits in college students. A secondary purpose of the paper is to report the results of applying such an inventory to a group of college mathematics students. (PK)

Reports a study to explore student's computational performance on computer-administered testing situations while at the computer. Students from grades 3-6 (n=100) were randomly assigned to treatment order, computer assessment first or paper/pencil assessment first. Significant differences occurred in three areas: completion time, number of mental…

Reports on a study designed to document that learning-disabled (LD) students make errors in estimating the passage of short time durations, and to determine if LD students were different than nondisabled in time estimation. Non-LD and LD students differed significantly in estimations of 15-second intervals, but not 3-second intervals. (PK)

Describes the theory and known influences on learned helplessness, particularly in the mathematics field, and discusses prevention and remediation with respect to this phenomenon. (PK)

Reports on a study to determine if having students write about the work required in doing three types of exercises from elementary algebraic fractions would affect the students' error patterns on quizzes. The study involved six developmental studies in elementary algebra classes. (PK)

Reports on research designed to systematically examine how the use of personalized word problems as practice examples would affect learning and attitudes. A computer program was used to generate the problems. It was concluded that presenting problems in familiar contexts made materials more interesting and understandable for students. (PK)

This study surveyed 91 special education teachers to determine perceived mathematical needs of exceptional children, ways teachers assess skill deficits, and teachers' methods and backgrounds. The continuum of skills corresponded to the standard curriculum. (MNS)

Promotes mathematics instruction that goes beyond computation and problem solving, attempting to make children the "posers of problems." Addresses differences in hemisphericity, processing, and learning styles, as well as maturation differences, sex differences, effects of stimulation, enriched environments, emotion, and the control of attention.…