This guidance report focuses on the teaching of mathematics to pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive guide to mathematics teaching. We have made recommendations where there are research findings that schools can use to make a significant difference to pupils' learning, and have focused on the questions that…

Field tests were conducted to evaluate theory-based computer-video instructional modules designed to teach or review concepts and operations for factors, prime numbers, and fractions. (MNS)

The process of transition from a novice's state to that of an expert, in the domain of decimals, is described in terms of explicit, intermediate, and transitional rules which are consistent yet erroneous. Data from students in grades 6-9 are included. (MNS)

This report describes an investigation in England of some of the problems children experience with fractions. In particular, the restricted view that some children have of fractions is investigated. The methodology involved a large number of interviews with secondary school children (aged 12-14). The results of these interviews led to the design…

The purpose of this study was to assess children's and adults' quantitative understanding of fractions in a new and potentially definitive way, and to determine whether this understanding was related to fraction computational skill. Thirty-seven seventh graders and 32 adults (college students) participated in the study. A computation task was used…

The Education Technology Center (ETC) Fractions Group works to investigate well-documented difficulties that children have in understanding fractions. A central assumption underlying this group's inquiry is that students' difficulties in manipulating fractions arise from their lack of understanding about the nature of fractions. In order to learn…

Two field trials were conducted to test the effectiveness of instructional materials, which were presented on an Apple II Plus microcomputer interfaced with a videocassette recorder, in teaching mathematical skills to students who had not made normal progress in mathematics learning. In the first field trial, 58 experimental students from a high…

Deciding how to approach a word problem for solution is a critical stage of problem solving, and is the stage which frequently presents considerable difficulty for novices. Do novices use the same information that experts do in deciding that two problems would be solved similarly? This set of four studies indicates that novices rely more on…

This publication is an abstracted compilation of 15 investigations selected from other journals. The information includes purpose, rationale, research design and procedures, findings, interpretations, abstractor's comments, and references. This journal includes the following reports: (1) "A Constructivist Approach to Numeration in Primary…

The papers and conference proceedings recorded in this monograph are from a conference on effective mathematics teaching. In addition to acknowledgements, foreword, introduction and participant list, the following articles are included: (1) "Teaching for Higher-Order Thinking in Mathematics: The Challenge for the Next Decade"; (2)…

Theory-based prototype computer-video instructional modules were developed to serve as an instructional supplement for students experiencing difficulty in learning mathematics, with special consideration given to students underrepresented in mathematics (particularly women and minorities). Modules focused on concepts and operations for factors,…