This study investigates students' and adults' performance in judging reasonableness of computational results, namely reflecting on whether these results qualify as acceptable answers to mathematical tasks. Data was gathered via task-based questionnaires from 160 participants, evenly divided between fifth-graders and adults. Their responses to a…

Previous research has demonstrated a link between children's ability to name canonical finger configurations and their mathematical abilities. This study aimed to investigate the nature of this association, specifically exploring whether the relationship is skill and handshape specific and identifying the underlying mechanisms involved.…

Equal representation as a social issue is about the participation of one social group, in a particular context, in proportion to the numbers in the group within the total population. The proportion of women in parliament, and of the participation rate of students of lower socioeconomic status in higher education, are examples. The aims of this…

Reasoning about numerical magnitudes is a key aspect of mathematics learning. Most research examining the relation of magnitude understanding to general mathematics achievement has focused on whole number and fraction magnitudes. The present longitudinal study (N = 435) used a 3-step latent class analysis to examine reasoning about magnitudes on a…

The research examined the calculation methods used by pupils in Grades 3-6 when they were presented with problems that could be worked out efficiently and flexibly by applying number sense. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 179 pupils between the ages 7 years and 10 months to 12 years and 10 months. in mainstream education in…

A challenge in digital learning games is assessing students' learning behaviors, which are often intertwined with game behaviors. How do we know whether students have learned enough or needed more practice at the end of their game play? To answer this question, we performed post hoc analyses on a prior study of the game "Decimal Point,"…

Difficulties with rational numbers have been explained by a natural number bias, where concepts of natural numbers are inappropriately applied to rational numbers. Overcoming this difficulty may require a radical restructuring of previous knowledge. In order to capture this development, we examined third- to fifth-grade students' understanding of…

The importance of fraction knowledge to later mathematics achievement, along with U.S. students' poor knowledge of fraction concepts and procedures, has prompted research on the development of fraction learning. In the present study, participants' (N = 536) development of fraction magnitude understanding and fraction arithmetic skills was assessed…

This seven-year longitudinal study examined how children's spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), subitizing based enumeration, and counting skills assessed at five or six years predict their school mathematics achievement at 12 years. The participants were 36 Finnish children without diagnosed neurological disorders. The results, based on…

Studies reveal that students as well as teachers have difficulties in understanding and learning of decimals. The purpose of this study is to investigate students' as well as pre-service teachers' solution strategies when solving a question that involves an estimation task for the value of a decimal number on the number line. We also examined the…

Math relies on mastery and integration of a wide range of simpler numerical processes and concepts. Recent work has identified several numerical competencies that predict variation in math ability. We examined the unique relations between eight basic numerical skills and early arithmetic ability in a large sample (N = 1391) of children across…

Upper primary school students' difficulties with decimal place value are widely recognised due largely to the availability of assessment tools that accurately identify students' misconceptions in this domain. Yet, many students' decimal difficulties seem to stem from a lack of understanding of whole number place value for which there are few, if…

Interactive whiteboards are somewhat unimpressive at first and look like the whiteboards that already hang on the walls of many classrooms. However, integrating interactive whiteboard technology in a unit on adding and subtracting integers enhances student engagement and understanding. In this article, the author describes how she used an…

The maturation of multiplicative thinking is key to student progress in middle school as rational number, ratio, and proportion concepts are encountered. But many students arrive from the intermediate grades and falter in developing this essential disposition. Elementary students have historically learned multiplication and division as operation…

As indicated by the distance effect and the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect, natural numbers are mentally represented on a number line. Purportedly, this number line underlies children's number sense, which supports the acquisition of more advanced mathematical competencies. In 3 studies with a total of 429 fifth and…