Reversibility thinking carried out mentally in mathematical operations has an important role in the process of understanding concepts as it involves developing a thinking process from beginning to end and from end to beginning. This qualitative research aims to describe students' reversible thinking processes in solving algebra problems,…

Productive learning of algebra is supported when students reflect on multiple strategies, compare them and discuss the rationale behind and relative merits of particular strategies. Comparison and Discussion of Multiple Strategies (CDMS) is an instructional approach designed to support these processes in math classrooms. In the current study, 16…

Sixty (35 girls) ninth graders were assessed on measures of algebraic reasoning and usage of visual and symbolic representations (with a prompt for visual use) to solve equations and inequalities. The study grouped visual representations into two categories: arithmetic-visual, which entailed the use of real-world objects to represent specific…

An essential understanding of the uses and practices of algebra remain out of reach for many students. In this book, award-winning researcher Dr. Nicole Fonger addresses the issue of how to support all learners to experience algebra as meaningful. In a highly visual approach, the book details four research-based lenses with examples from 9th-grade…

This study employed student choice and tiered worksheets as strategies of differentiated instruction on Quadratic Equations in addressing students' non-compliance with assignments in a flipped classroom. In each lesson, students choose among the instructional materials with guide questions to assist them in focusing on key areas during the…

Student focusing and noticing, which drive reasoning, are important but under researched aspects of student learning. Quadratic functions representations are perceptually and conceptually complex and thus, offer much for students to focus on and notice. Our study compared a teacher's goals for student focusing and noticing during quadratic…

This paper provides evidence that a short, fully online, well-constructed diagnostic test based on research literature can give teachers information about their students' thinking and strategies that is sufficiently accurate to use for formative assessment purposes. The example is a test for students beginning to learn to solve equations. The main…

Concerns have been expressed that although learners may solve linear equations correctly they cannot draw on mathematically valid resources to explain their solutions or use their strategies in unfamiliar situations. This article provides a detailed qualitative analysis of the thinking of 15 Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners as they talk about their…

The aim of this study is to examine the mistakes made by students in the use of logical connectives while simplifying algebraic equations and inequalities, and the extent to which teachers are aware of these mistakes and how they assess them. The study was conducted among 50 ninth grade students and 63 practicing teachers of mathematics. The data…

Once a novelty, Digitally-Based Assessments (DBA) have become commonplace in the USA. With mathematics, it is often a necessity to include items that require the student to input a mathematical formula, equation, or expression. Many of these responses, especially in the upper grades, cannot be input with a standard keyboard, but must use some type…

Model-eliciting activities are problem-solving activities that differ from traditional problems as they include non-routine, open-ended, and complicated real-life situations with various solutions (Lesh & Doerr, 2003). According to Lesh, Hoover, Hole, Kelly and Post (2000), a model-eliciting activity must follow certain principles, namely, the…

Implementing an integrated sequence of concrete-representational-abstract depictions of mathematics concepts (CRA-I) can improve the mathematics achievement of students with disabilities, and explicit instructional strategies involving problem-solving heuristics and student verbalizations can help facilitate students' conceptual understanding of…

Mr. Perez and Mrs. Peterson co-teach a ninth-grade algebra class. Perez and Peterson's class includes four students with individualized education programs (IEPs). In response to legislation, such as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2001) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2006), an increasing number of students…

This research addresses the issue of how to support students' representational fluency--the ability to create, move within, translate across, and derive meaning from external representations of mathematical ideas. The context of solving linear equations in a combined computer algebra system (CAS) and paper-and-pencil classroom environment is…

In the subject matter of functional relationships, a student's ability to translate from one form of representation to another is seen as a central competence. In the course of the HEUREKO project (heuristic work with representations of functional relationships and the diagnosis of mathematical competencies of students), a theoretical competence…