Magnitude understanding is critical for students to develop a deep understanding of fractions and more advanced mathematics curriculum. The research reports in this special issue underscore magnitude understanding for fractions and emphasize number lines as both an assessment and an instructional tool. In this commentary, we discuss how number…

In this commentary, I examine some of the distinctive, foundational difficulties in learning fractions and other types of rational numbers encountered by students with a mathematical learning disability and how these differ from the struggles experienced by students classified as low achieving in math. I discuss evidence indicating that students…

By the time they reach middle school, all students have been taught to add fractions. However, not all have "learned" to add fractions. The common mistake in adding fractions is to report that a/b + c/d is equal to (a + c)/(b + d). It is certainly necessary to correct this mistake when a student makes it. However, this occasion also…

The problem of getting a correct result when a fraction is reduced by cancelling a digit which appears in both the numerator and the denominator is extended from the base ten situation to any number base. (DT)

The topics discussed are, "Helping Students Understand the Distributive Property,""Converting from Base 10: Nonintegral Bases?,""Rapid Mental Squaring of Mixed Numbers," and "Some Nonstandard Binary Operations and their Properties." (JT)

A series of activities designed to help primary school children understand the meaning of the term "fraction," the symbolization, and equivalence of fractions are presented. Identification of units and pictorial representation are stressed, as is the uses of concrete materials. (SD)

This booklet is one of the ten in the series "Experiences in Mathematical Discovery", produced by the General Mathematics Writing Project of the NCTM. Each is designed for use by students of ninth-grade general mathematics. The discussion and problems are designed to guide the student through an understanding of: 1) fractions, 2) equivalent…

The purpose of the two studies reported was to develop and validate clinical assessment instruments designed to identify both the progress of learners through a hierarchy of mathematics content and the mode of presentation through which learners can best handle the content. In Study 1, 73 second graders were given one of two forms of a 15-item…

This is volume one of a three-volume SMSG junior high school mathematics text. This volume contains units concerned with the structure of the number systems of arithmetic. Unit topics include: (1) numeration; (2) natural numbers and zero; (3) factoring and primes; (4) supplementary tests for divisibility and repeating decimals; (5) the…

This is volume one of a three-volume set for teachers using SMSG junior high school text materials. Each unit contains a commentary on the text, answers to all the exercises, a copy of the questionnaire used for evaluating the material, and a summary of comments by the teachers using the text. Unit topics include: (1) numeration; (2) natural…

Attempted to verify knowledge regarding decimal and rational numbers in children ages 10-14. Discusses how pupils can receive and assimilate extensions of the number system from natural numbers to decimals and fractions and later can integrate this extension into a single and coherent numerical structure. (Author/MKR)

This is a reprint of an address given at the Christmas National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) meeting in 1958. It provides a critique of elementary instruction and discusses the changes necessary. It calls for fundamental change in the concept of mathematics teaching. (PDD)

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…