For schools implementing Response-to-Intervention, it is important to understand how to efficiently intensify interventions. Treatment intensity, or intervention design, is a critical yet overlooked and understudied aspect in math. More frequent dosage results in greater student gains. However, questions remain regarding how teaching episodes…

Understanding fraction magnitudes is foundational for later math achievement. To represent a fraction "x/y," children are often taught to use "partitioning": break the whole into "y" parts, and shade in "x" parts. Past research has shown that partitioning on number lines supports children's fraction…

Understanding fraction magnitudes is foundational for later math achievement. To represent a fraction x/y, children are often taught to use "partitioning": Break the whole into y parts and shade in x parts. Past research has shown that partitioning on number lines supports children's fraction magnitude knowledge more than partitioning on…

Introducing the distributivity property of multiplication over addition is a well-known challenge in mathematics education, especially in primary school. As a contribution, this paper presents the results of a cycle of design research that focuses on the design, implementation and evaluation of a modelling activity in which 2nd-grade students are…

A vast majority of elementary students struggle with the core, pre-algebraic concept of mathematical equivalence. The Improving Children's Understanding of Equivalence (ICUE) intervention integrates four research-based strategies to improve outcomes for second grade students: (1) introducing the equal sign before arithmetic, (2) non-traditional…

Mastering traditional algorithms has formed mathematics teaching in primary education. Educational reforms have emphasized variation and creativity in teaching and using computational strategies. These changes have recently been criticized for lack of empirical support. This research examines the effect of teaching two differently structured…

Overall mathematics proficiency of fourth graders in the U.S. continues to be poor and students falling at or below the 25th percentile display declining performance (NCES, 2017), which suggests the need for schools to provide supplemental intervention supports as soon as skill gaps are observed. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of small group…

In this study we investigate the effects of long-term technology enhanced learning (TEL) in mathematics learning performance and fluency, and how technology enhanced learning can be integrated into regular curriculum. The study was conducted in five second grade classes. Two of the classes formed a treatment group and the remaining three formed a…

Ensuring students correctly understand the notion of equality is a fundamental problem in teaching mathematics. Is it possible to teach arithmetic in such a way that students do not misinterpret the equal sign "=" as indicating the result of an arithmetic operation and, consequently, viewing the arithmetic operation symbols (+, -, or x)…

We present first-grade, second-grade, and third-grade impacts for a first-grade intervention targeting the conceptual and procedural bases that support arithmetic. At-risk students (average age at pretest = 6.5) were randomly assigned to three conditions: a control group (n = 224) and two variants of the intervention (same conceptual instruction…

This study's purpose was to investigate effects of 3 intervention approaches for building working memory (WM) and improving word-problem solving (WPS). Children with mathematics difficulties (n = 240; 7.51 years [SD = 0.33]) were randomized to 4 conditions: a control group, general WM training with contiguous math practice, WPS intervention…

In Norway, children are encouraged to pose a problem that they can solve using an arithmetical calculation. This is known as 'regnefortelling'. During a larger project, we became interested in a small group of "regnefortelling" which used unusual contexts, contexts that made us uneasy and invoked a feeling of uncertainty about how we…

Our research focuses on developing elementary students' mental computation skills with the help of card games. Choosing this area of study was motivated by our personal experiences, namely, that mathematics programmes of study do not lay emphasis on this aspect; there are too few hours dedicated to developing this skill, and several mental…

In this 3-year longitudinal study, we examined the interplay of children's motivational orientations, spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) and number sequence and arithmetical skills from kindergarten (at age 6) to grade 1 (at age 7). We also examined the direct and indirect contributions of motivation and SFON to the acquisition of…

When a second-grade class struggled to make sense of the algorithms for multidigit addition and subtraction, attitude and morale were down, and student discourse was at an all-time low. When daily mathematics class started, the teacher was hearing an overall class moan. The instructed needed to turn it around, to find a way to help excite and…