The present study is the first to examine the computation estimation skills of dyscalculics versus controls using the estimation comparison task. In this task, participants judged whether an estimated answer to a multidigit multiplication problem was larger or smaller than a given reference number. While dyscalculics were less accurate than…

Common fractions have been found to be processed intentionally but not automatically, which led to the conclusion that they are not represented holistically in long-term memory. However, decimals are more similar to natural numbers in their form and thus might be better candidates to be holistically represented by educated adults. To test this…

Language is often depicted as the sine qua non of mathematical thinking, a view buttressed by findings of language-of-training effects among bilinguals. These findings, however, have been limited to studies of arithmetic. Nothing is known about the potential influence of language on the ability to learn rules about the relations among variables…

Numeracy needs of nursing students are often underestimated by students when they enter university. Even when students are aware of the mathematics required, students underestimate or overestimate the skills they have. Research has highlighted the mathematics and numeracy skills required of nurses and nursing students and numerous studies have…

The study investigates the mathematical and the pedagogical content knowledge among in-service and pre-service first- and second-grade mathematics teachers. The sample of 300 subjects consisted of 150 first- and second-grade in-service teachers and 150 pre-service teachers studying in a college of education, 75 of whom were first-year students and…

Determining adults' and children's strategies in mental arithmetic constitutes a central issue in the domain of numerical cognition. However, despite the considerable amount of research on this topic, the conclusions in the literature are not always coherent. Therefore, there is a need to carry on the investigation, and this is the reason why we…

One of the common tasks of inferential statistics is to compare two data sets. Long before formal statistical procedures, however, students can be encouraged to make comparisons between data sets and therefore build up intuitive statistical reasoning. Such tasks also give meaning to the data collection students may do. This study describes the…

Understanding an arithmetic operation implies, at minimum, knowing the direction of effects that the operation produces. However, many children and adults, even those who execute arithmetic procedures correctly, may lack this knowledge on some operations and types of numbers. To test this hypothesis, we presented preservice teachers (Study 1),…

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…

The purpose of the present study was to examine factors that influence strategic flexibility in computational estimation for Chinese- and Canadian-educated adults. Strategic flexibility was operationalized as the percentage of trials on which participants chose the problem-based procedure that best balanced proximity to the correct answer with…

Linear algebra is one of the most challenging topics to learn and teach in many countries. To facilitate the teaching and learning of linear algebra, priority should be given to epistemologically analyze the concepts that the undergraduate students have difficulty in conceptualizing and to define their ways of reasoning in linear algebra. After…

This study extends the Rittle-Johnson and Star (2009) research agenda of identifying when solution comparisons are effective by combining their quantitative approach with the qualitative descriptive approach advocated by Lobato (2008). In Experiment 1 university students described similarities and differences between detailed solutions of…

This experiment tested the effect that calculator use had on 200 randomly assigned college students' mathematical performance. The purposes of the current experiment were twofold: to measure the level of mathematical preparation of current college students, and to test whether calculators improve mathematical performance in such students as it…

A technique for automatic error analysis using interval mathematics is introduced. A comparison to standard error propagation methods shows that in cases involving complicated formulas, the interval approach gives comparable error estimates with much less effort. Several examples are considered, and numerical errors are computed using the INTLAB…

The identification of patterned responding in unmotivated test takers was investigated through the formation of a novel method. The proposed method relied on marginal proportions of answer choice options as well as the transitional proportions between responses on item pairs. A chi square analysis was used to determine the degree of significance…