Activities that illustrate a problem-solving approach to teaching grouping symbols, such as parentheses and brackets, are described. Suggested exercises, answers to those exercises, and variations of this activity are included. (KR)

This article offers multiplication fact memorization training techniques that have been successfully used with students with learning disabilities in resource room and clinical settings. Techniques include organizing the facts, using finger multiplication, visual mnemonic flashcards, and musical reinforcement. (DB)

Examined the effects of stress related to a competitive arithmetic test on a group of 301 children and young adults in 7 age cohorts ranging from 7 to 20 years by measuring changes in heart rate. Discovered some age and sex differences, and found that the oldest group had the greatest increase in heart rate. (MDM)

Discussion of limiting response time for students' answers focuses on a study of Israeli elementary students that investigated the effects on their performance of increasing the response time in computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for arithmetic drill and practice. Effects on high- versus low-aptitude students, and younger versus older, are…

In two parallel one-year studies, solution strategies for subtraction number facts and achievement patterns of matched groups of first graders in two different instructional programs were examined. Significant differences between groups were found favoring the strategy approach. (Author/CW)

Six elementary-age children with learning disabilities were found to learn subtraction facts more rapidly when a rule teaching and correction strategy was employed, compared to learning facts by rote. A study of generalization of rule usage found that the two children studied did generalize the strategy to an additional problem. (Author/JDD)

Freudenthal was the founder of realistic mathematics education, in which reality serves as a source of applications and learning. Takes a newspaper article about reproducing a Van Gogh painting using plants in a field to exemplify a rich context problem containing elements of all areas of elementary school mathematics. (MDH)

Reports on the findings obtained from teaching initial multiplication concepts, skills, and principles to students with disabilities, low-achieving students, and students who were achieving normally in inclusive, general-education settings. Contains 52 references. (ASK)

Presents results of a study of the development of early mathematical competence related to counting among young poor arithmetic achievers in the four- to seven-year age group. An Additional Early Mathematics program was offered to students scoring below a criterium with either guiding instruction or structured instruction. (Author/LRW)

Studied relations among children's short-term memory, working memory, inhibitory control, and arithmetic word-problem solving. Found that poor problem solvers had lower scores and made more intrusion errors in working memory tasks requiring inhibition of irrelevant information than good problem solvers. Findings indicated that performance relates…

This article describes an activity that, on the surface, engages the students in basic skill review. Its ultimate goal is to cause students to make conjectures, seek to justify those conjectures, and to think mathematically. (Contains 3 figures.)

An analysis of the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that only 46 percent of all high school seniors demonstrated success with a grasp of decimals, percentages, fractions and simple algebra. This article investigates error patterns that emerge as students attempt to answer questions involving the ability to apply…

Cross-cultural studies on mathematical cognition and education have suggested that curriculum and teaching have contributed to U.S. versus Asian differences in student performance; however, previous discussions of curriculum and teaching practices have been very general and have not focused on a detailed analysis of how mathematics concepts are…

The present study examined performance on an arithmetic task of increasing difficulty and a frustrating puzzle task for children with ADHD and comparison children. Emotional competence also was investigated in the two groups. Sixty-four children, 21 previously diagnosed with ADHD, participated. Performance on the arithmetic task was measured in…

The development of conceptual understanding in arithmetic is a gradual process and children may make use of a concept in some situations before others. Previous research has demonstrated that when children are given arithmetic problems with an inverse relationship they can infer that the initial and final quantities are the same. However, we do…