Incorporating visual representations, rather than strictly relying on symbolic representations, is a research-based strategy for supporting fraction learning. However, students must also make transitions between visual and symbolic fraction representations to apply the conceptual understanding they gained from visual representations to symbolic…

How can children's natural perceptuo-motor skills be harnessed for teaching and learning mathematical structure? We address this question in the case of the integers. Existing research suggests that adult mental representations of integers recruit perceptuo-motor functionalities involving symmetry. Building on these findings, we designed a…

In this study a survey instrument was developed to test elementary teachers' attitudes towards incorporating manipulatives in their math lessons frequently. Though the benefits of using math manipulatives has been reported, there seems to be a disconnect between the benefits of manipulative use and the number of teachers integrating them in their…

The research project will be conducted with a target focus group of six students who have been identified as struggling students in 3rd grade mathematics. The research project will study the effect of using different teaching strategies and methods to increase motivation and focus among these students. The research project will be conducted at…

Recent reports indicate that although 17-year-old high school students know some basic addition and subtraction facts, few of the students are capable of solving multi-step mathematics problems. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design study examined the effects of a teaching method emphasizing manipulative use on the mathematics…

The Middle Grades Mathematics Project (MGMP) has been an effort to produce exemplary mathematics curriculum units for grades six, seven, and eight, evaluate the compatibility of those units in classrooms, and to study the nature of the effort needed to help teachers to teach the units effectively in their classrooms. Each activity designed by MGMP…

The call for educational reform has caused mathematics curriculum, instruction, and assessment to come under both professional and public scrutiny. The three elements contesting for leadership in assessment reform are the conventional testing agencies, reformers led by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and political agencies…

This practicum was designed to expand the scope of the inservice mathematics manipulative training program to address the lack of parent and teacher understanding of the use of manipulatives that are used by Chapter I math tutors to remediate students. A second aim was to acquaint and assist parents and teachers with remediation of educationally…