Over the past several years, research teams have developed observational instruments to measure the quality of teachers' instructional practices. Instruments such as Framework for Teaching (FFT) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) assess general teaching practices, including student-teacher interactions, behavior management, and…

Fourth graders (n=204) and seventh graders (n=185) were given a prior-knowledge inventory, a graph test, and reading and achievement tests during four testing sessions. Significant predictors for graph comprehension were identified for both grade four and grade seven students. The results suggest that children should be involved in graphing…

Described are children's strategies in thinking about fraction order and equivalence. The data are based on two teaching experiments with fourth and fifth-grade children. Some sample activities for teaching order and equivalence are included. (RH)

Investigated were differences in learning styles, as measured by the Learning Style Inventory, in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students achieving at high, low, and average levels. Results indicated students do not learn in the same manner and manifest significant variations in how they prefer to learn. (RH)

A comparison of three approaches to problem solving in fourth grade mathematics is presented. Three classes participated in the study. Class One studied problem solving in a structured classroom setting, Class Two studied problem solving incidentally, and Class Three studied problem solving when it appeared in the text. The structured study of…

A two-year study was conducted with fourth-grade children in the context of extensive teaching experiments concerned with the learning of rational number concepts. Representational difficulties in using the number line model were investigated. While instruction in the second year attempted to resolve observed learning difficulties, the results of…

The purpose of this study was to look intensively at two aspects of mathematics instruction--development and practice. It contrasted the Direct Instruction approach to the development phase of teaching problem solving with a Traditional approach taken from the teachers' manual of four widely used basal textbooks. Seventy-three fourth graders…

Fourth-grade students' understanding of the order and equivalence of fractions was investigated in an 18-week teaching experiment. Three related characteristics of thinking are hypothesized to be related to success of such tasks, involving flexibility and reasoning that becomes increasingly independent of specific concrete embodiments. (MNS)

This exploratory study describes fourth-grade students' opinions and knowledge about fractions. A coherent and elaborate fraction knowledge base results when students establish connections between their conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge of fractions. One possible juncture between concepts and procedures might involve establishing…

Data are presented for problem-solving content of selected elementary school mathematics textbooks and problem-solving achievement for students in Iowa for grades 4-6 for selected years between 1955 and 1985. Relationships between textbook content and student achievement are considered. (RH)

Students from six fourth-grade classes were paired and randomly assigned to computer or worksheet treatments on multiplication and division. Those using computer-based drill-and-practice programs made greater gains on some tests of basic facts, but had no higher retention of algorithms. (MNS)

Fourth-grade students' understanding of the order and equivalence of rational numbers was investigated in 132 interviews during an 18-week teaching experiment. Six children were instructed individually and as a group at two sites, with instruction relying heavily on manipulative aids. Strategies used to compare fractions were identified. (MNS)

This aptitude-treatment interaction study explored the relationship between cognitive restructuring ability and treatments varying in the amounts of teacher guidance on tasks with fractions. An interaction was found between cognitive restructuring ability and levels of teacher guidance for items having continuous perceptual distracters. (MNS)

As testing becomes more prevalent as a policy tool in the Anglo-Saxon world, debates continue as to whether it supports central reforms of instruction or leads to a kind of 'teaching to the test' that invalidates results and undermines more challenging instruction. This paper reports on a three-year study of mathematics testing of nine-year-olds…

This study focused on the way mathematics was taught in selected primary school classrooms. The study involved the observation of 21 fourth-grade classes in eight schools over a two-week period. Results indicated a hiatus between what was taught and what should be taught and between how mathematics is taught and how it should be taught.…