This experimental study evaluated the effectiveness of a research-based intervention, schema-based instruction (SBI), on students' proportional problem solving. SBI emphasizes the underlying mathematical structure of problems, uses schematic diagrams to represent information in the problem text, provides explicit problem solving and metacognitive…

This study compared the effects of delivering a supplemental, small-group tutoring intervention on the mathematics outcomes of third-grade students at risk for mathematics difficulties (MD) who were randomly assigned to either a schema-based instruction (SBI) or control group. SBI emphasized the underlying mathematical structure of additive…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of schema-broadening instruction (SBI), with and without explicit instruction in strategies for tackling the complexities involved in real-life (RL) math problems, on the math problem solving of third-grade students. Teachers (n = 30) were assigned randomly to 3 16-week conditions: control, SBI,…

Informed Strategies for Learning (ISL) was designed to increase children's awareness and use of effective reading strategies. This study demonstrated that metacognition can be promoted through direct instruction (ISL) in the classroom. Increased awareness can lead to better use of reading strategies. (DWH)

This study investigated the effectiveness of a schema strategy on the mathematical word-problem-solving performance of four sixth- and seventh-grade students with learning disabilities. The schema strategy led to substantially improved word-problem-solving performance for all four students and these results were maintained at two- and four-week…

Four middle school students with learning disabilities and low mathematics performance received schema strategy training in problem schemata (conceptual understanding) and problem solution (procedural understanding). Results indicated that the schema-based strategy was effective in substantially increasing the number of correctly solved word…

Mathematical problem solving is a transfer challenge requiring children to develop schemas for recognizing novel problems as belonging to familiar problem types for which they know solutions. Schema-based transfer instruction (SBTI) explicitly teaches transfer features that change problems in superficial ways to make them appear novel even though…

The purposes of this study were to assess the effects of schema-based instruction (SBI) in promoting mathematical problem solving and to investigate schema induction as a mechanism in the development of mathematical problem solving. Twenty-four 3rd-grade teachers, with 366 students, were assigned randomly to conditions that provided instruction on…

Examined the differential effects of two instructional strategies (explicit schema-based and traditional-based) on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of mathematical word problem solving among elementary students at risk or with mild disabilities. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that both groups' performance increased from…

A study investigated the effects of direct instruction in the process of revision on students' knowledge of the revision process, their ability to make revisions on paper, and the quality of their writing. Subjects, 30 sixth grade students, were divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received instruction in the…

Children begin school with the ability to use their informal and implicit conceptual knowledge to guide their problem solving, but shift to the use of superficial strategies in their attempts to solve word problems as they progress through school. This paper describes a study designed to investigate the effects of an instructional sequence that…