This study investigated the relationship between three cognitive features of mathematical instruction tasks (high cognitive demand, multiple representations, and multiple solution methods) and student learning outcomes among 1,779 students from 30 Chinese fifth-grade classrooms using a new mathematics curriculum. Measures of mathematics learning…

This paper reports on 2 studies that examine how mathematical problem posing is integrated in Chinese and US elementary mathematics textbooks. Study 1 involved a historical analysis of the problem-posing (PP) tasks in 3 editions of the most widely used elementary mathematics textbook series published by People's Education Press in China over 3…

This study analyzed the problem-posing tasks in Chinese and U.S. elementary mathematics textbooks. Significant differences were found between the Chinese and U.S. textbooks in the presentation of problem posing activities. By analyzing problem posing in textbooks, we gain insight into how reform ideas are reflected in the mathematics curriculum.…

This document is 7th in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education monograph series. The mathematical performance of (n=250) U.S. 6th-grade students from both private and public schools and (n=425) Chinese 6th-graders from both key and common schools was examined on multiple-choice tasks assessing computation and simple problem solving, and…

Only 25% of fifth- and sixth-grade Chinese students (n=186) correctly solved a division-with-remainder computation task, about the same success rate as with American students, and only one-sixth of the students could interpret the result. (MKR)

The contributions of open-ended tasks in examining students' mathematical performance were studied with 250 U.S. and 425 Chinese sixth graders. Open-ended tasks allow for analysis of student performance that cannot be assessed solely by percent correct or incorrect, but they pose many problems, such as those of translation. (SLD)