Syntactic language features of word problems have often been identified by assessment studies and interview studies as potential obstacles in word problem solving. However, students' processes of noticing and interpreting these features have only rarely been investigated in depth because noticing is hard to investigate. Eye-tracking methodology…

Discussion of differences between problem-solving techniques of novices and experts suggests that both the experts' mental model and common novice problems can be derived from analyses of several expert and novice protocols. Three instructional strategies based on these differences are discussed, including the use of a computer simulation to solve…