Research has shown that fraction magnitude and whole number division are important precursors to learning and understanding fractions. Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students are consistently challenged with learning fractions from K-12 through college. Sixty DHH college students were tested for both their understanding of magnitude between two…

This study investigated 111 pre-service teachers' (PSTs') flexibility with referent units in solving a fraction division problem using a length model. Participants' written solutions to a measurement fraction division problem were analyzed in terms of strategies and types of errors, using an inductive content analysis approach. Findings suggest…

Assessment is a notorious source of preoccupation for faculty and university governing bodies, especially when an institution initiates curricular reforms which shift the programme learning outcomes for knowledge to competencies. One obstacle to acceptance arises from a culture of quantitative assessment (often represented by a single mark), which…

This paper deals with the competence of Cultural (epistemological, historical and anthropological) Analysis of the Content (CAC), which is important for teachers' awareness and autonomy when dealing with educational choices in a changing cultural and institutional context. We report on an 18-hour intervention in a teacher education course at the…

Developing high levels of mathematical skills in students is a concern for teachers worldwide, since most of the fastest growing occupations require significant mathematics or science preparation. Teachers need to be prepared to teach mathematics successfully. If teachers are not fluent in simple mathematical calculations, they may not feel…

Adults' simple arithmetic performance is more efficient when operands are presented in Arabic digit (3 + 5) than in number word (three + five) formats. An explanation provided is that visual familiarity with digits is higher respect to number words. However, most studies have been limited to single-digit addition and multiplication problems. In…

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…

A focus of early mathematics education is to build fluency through practice. Several models of skill acquisition have sought to explain the increase in fluency because of practice by modeling both the learning mechanisms driving this speedup and the changes in cognitive processes involved in executing the skill (such as transitioning from…

We investigated how the updating function supports the integration process in solving arithmetic word problems. In Experiment 1, we measured reading time, that is, translation and integration times, when undergraduate and graduate students (n = 78) were asked to solve 2 types of problems: those containing only necessary information and those…

This study is motivated by the desire to address some of the enormous challenges faced by the students as well as the lecturer in fulfilling their respective expectations and duties demanded by the process of learning--teaching of mathematics and statistics within the framework of the constraining schedules laid down by the academic institutions…

There are opposing views about calculator use in school mathematics. This paper reports on a study that investigated the arithmetic proficiency of mathematics 1 university students and the effects of calculator usage at school level on their proficiency. The study followed a descriptive survey design involving the use of questionnaire and data…

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),…

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…

Math preparedness is a barrier to completion for many community college vocational students. With President Obama's (2010) challenge to produce more graduates in order to ensure our nation succeeds in the 21st century, community colleges across the country have an increased focus on graduation or completion. This study was conducted to provide…