Mathematical word problems, sometimes called story problems, are generally defined as "verbal descriptions of problem situations, presented within a scholastic setting, wherein one or more questions are raised the answer to which can be obtained by the application of mathematical operations to numerical data available in the problem statement…

In this article, the authors define numberless math stories and highlight three strategies for supporting equitable problem solving: (1) The Turn-and-Tell Strategy; (2) Storyboard and Story Mat; and (3) The Act-It-Out Strategy. These three strategies open up problem solving and give every student access to a challenging mathematics curriculum…

Reading mathematics problems can frustrate students to the point of shutting down. Although Pólya's four-step plan is a well-known problem-solving framework, the author's students benefited from a more concrete and detailed approach: chunking the reading. In this article, the author describes an approach to problem solving used with eighth-grade…

Informal strategies reflecting the representation of a situation described in an arithmetic word problem mediate students' solving processes. When the informal strategies are inefficient, teaching students to make way for more efficient ways to find the solution is an important educational issue in mathematics. The current paper presents a…

Many secondary students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) struggle with mathematics problem solving. When students with SLD are taught to use effective problem-solving strategies, their ability to solve mathematics word problems improves. The purpose of this article is to provide a guide for secondary teachers to implement self-regulated…

One of the most fundamental strategies in mathematics instruction is practice problems because teachers know that practicing a skill improves performance. At the same time, teachers also know that just because students can correctly answer practice problems does not mean they fully understand the concept or how to apply a formula--especially not…

This study describes the problem solving behaviour of bilingual (German - Turkish) primary school students, their approaches and preferences while solving the word problems. Four different types of mathematical word problems (combinations, movement, subtraction and addiction) were given successively to four pupils (one girl and three boys) and…

The number of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in elementary mathematics classrooms today is on the rise and educators around the world are seeking innovative methods for teaching them. The authors of this article describe using an avatar-based program called TeachLivE to help students with ASD develop a graphic organizer strategy to…

Students with mathematics difficulties and learning disabilities (LD) typically struggle with solving word problems. These students often lack knowledge about efficient, cognitive strategies to utilize when solving word problems. Cognitive strategy instruction has been shown to be effective in teaching struggling students how to solve word…

A visual representation, such as a diagram, can be a powerful strategy for solving mathematical word problems. However, using a representation to solve mathematical word problems is not as simple as it seems! Many students with learning disabilities struggle to use a diagram effectively and efficiently. This article provides a framework for…

Permutations and combinations are used to solve certain kinds of counting problems, but many students have trouble distinguishing which of these concepts applies to a given problem. An "order heuristic" is usually used to distinguish the two, but this heuristic can cause confusion when problems do not explicitly mention order. This…

Research shows that the greatest gains in student learning in mathematics classrooms occur in classrooms in which there is sustained use of high cognitive demanding tasks throughout instruction (Boston and Smith 2009). High cognitive demanding tasks, which this article will refer to as rich tasks, are mathematics problems that are complex, less…

What "is" mathematics? What does it mean to "do" mathematics? The answers to these two questions critically influence the ways in which learners respond to a mathematical problem. On the other hand, if they see questions as having only one correct answer and as needing to be solved in one particular way, they will be prone to…

Across the primary and secondary phases, pupils are encouraged to use and apply their knowledge, skills, and understanding of mathematics to solve problems in a variety of forms, ranging from single-stage word problems to the challenge of extended rich tasks. Amongst many others, Cockcroft (1982) emphasised the importance and relevance of…

"Strategy sharing" is a certain type of discussion that centers on students' ideas and occurs when children present different approaches to problems and provide information about how they solved the problem (Wood, Williams, and McNeal 2004). A teacher may orchestrate a strategy-sharing discussion to achieve one or more of the…