The year students take Algebra I historically determines how far they progress in secondary mathematics, creating complex equity issues around access to this course. By examining a case study of one large, urban school district adjusting to the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M), we demonstrate how district leaders' interactions,…

In a typical first physics class, homework consists of problems in which numerical values for physical quantities are given and the desired answer is a number with appropriate units. In contrast, most calculations in upper-division undergraduate physics are entirely symbolic. Despite the need to learn symbolic manipulation, students are often…

College algebra is regarded as a gatekeeper course for attaining degrees, higher paying jobs, and overall individual empowerment. Educational stakeholders have reconsidered alternative instructional approaches such as computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to curb high failure rates and increase retention rates among college algebra students. One…

We share results from a one-year early algebra classroom intervention. One kindergarten, one first-grade, and one second-grade classroom participated in the intervention and three classrooms of the same grade levels served as control sites. The intervention addressed the structure of even and odd numbers, mathematical equivalence and equations,…

Learning progressions have become an important construct in educational research, in part because of their ability to inform the design of coherent standards, curricula, assessments, and instruction. In this paper, I discuss how a learning progressions approach has guided our development of an early algebra innovation for the elementary grades and…

The study aims to explore how the mathematics teachers taking post-graduate education use their Algebra knowledge for the expression, "You can't add apples and pears" that is expressed in almost every segment of the society, in creating mathematical content. The data of the research consisted of the written answers of the thirty-seven…

In this article, the author will demonstrate how gestures--often used in combination with offloading information on scratch paper--can be used to help students with difficulties in mathematics succeed with secondary level algebra. The authors will provide key examples from three studies of the algebra learning of students with mathematics…

The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) were released more than 10 years ago. This set of standards outlines the mathematics that all students should know and be able to do to prepare them for post-secondary education and employment. Students with learning disabilities (LD) continue to underperform in relation to their peers without…

Although algebra often functions as a gatekeeper to higher-level mathematics courses and higher education admissions, few quality measures exist for assessing conceptual understanding. This study explored the technical adequacy of three procedural and two conceptual algebra screening measures. We administered three rounds of assessments throughout…

This quantitative study examined the impact of a multi-subject double-dose STEM intervention on the academic achievement of underprepared 9th-grade males. The intervention consisted of heterogeneously grouped core classes of Algebra 1 and biology accompanied by a second multi-subject (Algebra 1 and biology) support class. This nine-week study did…

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to determine if, and to what extent, technology-enhanced problem-based formative assessment instruction would have an impact on college students' algebra learning and development of critical thinking skills, when compared to traditional classroom instruction in a first-year college…

Parents and caregivers can use the activities in this report to help youth learn to solve algebra problems using different strategies. Knowing different strategies for solving algebra problems may help your child approach algebra problems with confidence. Children could apply the most appropriate strategy for a particular problem or could try a…

Fraction knowledge and algebraic skill are closely linked. Algebra is a gatekeeper for advanced courses (Booth & Newton, 2012; Brown & Quinn, 2007). This study uses the person-centered approach of latent profile analysis to examine individual differences in middle schoolers' (N = 350) algebra performance at the end of the year (EOY). The…

To a student in introductory physics, using vectors is at best an exercise in bookkeeping. A two-dimensional kinematics problem effectively doubles the number of equations that a student must know, and invites the student to memorize factoids: "The horizontal motion is constant," "Gravity is only in the y-direction," etc. Force…

The acquisition of procedural and conceptual knowledge is imperative for the development of problem solving skills in mathematics. However, while there are mixed research findings on the relationship between the two domains of knowledge in some branches of mathematics, the relationship between learners' procedural and conceptual knowledge of…