Simple and complex addition problems were presented for true/false verification to 30 undergraduate students to test a general model for cognitive addition. Problems were presented on a microcomputer, with reaction time (RT) and response accuracy recorded. Models for addition were fit to average RT data using multiple regression techniques. These…

This study involved 48 students ages 9 to 12. The 29 experimental group students, divided into small groups, performed learning exercises designed to improve skills in analyzing and processing expressions frequently included in addition and multiplication problems. The exercises helped significantly to improve problem-solving performance. (MNS)

This study investigates the influence of changes in the wording of simple addition and subtraction problems without affecting their semantic structure on the level of difficulty of those problems for first and second graders and on the nature of their errors. The objective is to contribute to a better understanding of the process of constructing a…

The purpose of the study was to survey self-regulation while responding to the addition facts. First graders' performance on microcomputer practice exercises was observed and recorded. Subjects could choose an analytic mode of operation using a symbolic or a finger strategy; or, they could choose a geometric mode of operation using a pictorial or…

Data were collected in the problem representations and solution strategies of 30 first graders who were given a series of simple addition and subtraction word problems. The children were interviewed three times during the school year. The influence of problem structure on children's solution strategies appears more extensive and decisive than that…

Over the past few years a substantial body of research has yielded evidence that the semantic structure of elementary arithmetic word problems influences children's strategies to solve them. The study reported in this document considered three other task characteristics in addition to semantic structure: (1) the order of presentation of the two…

Summarized are the findings from five studies carried out in Australia in 1979-80. First was a cross-sectional survey designed to determine the memory capacity of a population of children in grades 1-3. The second study investigated performance differences on a variety of mathematically related developmental tasks for the same group. Data from…

This practicum was designed to improve and increase the problem-solving skills of third-grade students. Using a specially designed 20-item test consisting of mathematical word problems, a preassessment was made of the addition and subtraction skills of 843 third-grade students from high, middle, and low socioeconomic levels in four Florida…

This study investigated children's representation of addition and subtraction problems with canonical and noncanonical number sentences, to see whether children would directly represent the structure of a problem if both types of sentences were available. Subjects were 22 first graders and 41 second graders randomly assigned either to a Canonical…

Reported are data from the first individual interview conducted in 1978 as part of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. The research program is attempting to relate pupil performance on selected arithmetic skills to pupil cognitive processes, instructional materials, and teachers' classroom behaviors. From three…

Reported are data from the second individual interview conducted in 1979 as part of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. From three schools in Wisconsin that used the Developing Mathematical Processes program, l50 first-grade children were individually administered six problem types (two solvable by addition and…

Data are reported from the third individual interview conducted in 1979 as part of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. From three schools in Wisconsin that used the Developing Mathematical Processes program, l50 first-grade children were individually administered six problem types (two solvable by addition and…

Data are reported from the fourth individual interview conducted in 1979 as part of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. Ninety-nine second-grade children in two schools in Wisconsin that used the Developing Mathematical Processes program were individually administered six problem types (two solvable by addition…

Data are reported from the fifth individual interview conducted in 1980 as part of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. Ninety-six second-grade children in two schools in Wisconsin that used the Developing Mathematical Processes program were individually administerd six problem types (two solvable by addition…

Data are reported from the first and second individual interviews conducted in 1980 in the second phase of a 3-year study on addition and subtraction using verbal problem solving. The second phase is concerned with children's performance on verbal addition and subtraction problems which contain two-digit numbers, half of which require regrouping…