Browsing by Author "Hamlett, Carol L."
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Item Does calculation or word-problem instruction provide a stronger route to pre-algebraic knowledge?(Journal of Educational Psychology, 2014-12) Fuchs, Lynn S.; Powell, Sarah R.; Cirino, Paul T.; Schumacher, Robin F.; Marrin, Sarah; Hamlett, Carol L.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Changas, Paul C.The focus of this study was connections among 3 aspects of mathematical cognition at 2nd grade: calculations, word problems, and prealgebraic knowledge. We extended the literature, which is dominated by correlational work, by examining whether intervention conducted on calculations or word problems contributes to improved performance in the other domain and whether intervention in either or both domains contributes to prealgebraic knowledge. Participants were 1,102 children in 127 second-grade classrooms in 25 schools. Teachers were randomly assigned to 3 conditions: calculation intervention, word-problem intervention, and business-as-usual control. Intervention, which lasted 17 weeks, was designed to provide research-based linkages between arithmetic calculations or arithmetic word problems (depending on condition) and prealgebraic knowledge. Multilevel modeling suggested calculation intervention improved calculation but not word-problem outcomes; word-problem intervention enhanced word-problem but not calculation outcomes; and word-problem intervention provided a stronger route than calculation intervention to prealgebraic knowledge.Item Predicting development of mathematical word problem solving across the intermediate grades(Journal of Educational Psychology, 2012-11) Tolar, Tammy D.; Fuchs, Lynn S.; Cirino, Paul T.; Fuchs, Douglas; Hamlett, Carol L.; Fletcher, Jack M.This study addressed predictors of the development of word problem solving (WPS) across the intermediate grades. At beginning of 3rd grade, 4 cohorts of students (N = 261) were measured on computation, language, nonverbal reasoning skills, and attentive behavior and were assessed 4 times from beginning of 3rd through end of 5th grade on 2 measures of WPS at low and high levels of complexity. Language skills were related to initial performance at both levels of complexity and did not predict growth at either level. Computational skills had an effect on initial performance in low- but not high-complexity problems and did not predict growth at either level of complexity. Attentive behavior did not predict initial performance but did predict growth in low-complexity, whereas it predicted initial performance but not growth for high-complexity problems. Nonverbal reasoning predicted initial performance and growth for low-complexity WPS, but only growth for high-complexity WPS. This evidence suggests that although mathematical structure is fixed, different cognitive resources may act as limiting factors in WPS development when the WPS context is varied.Item Remediating computational deficits at third grade: A randomized field trial(Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2008-03) Fuchs, Lynn S.; Powell, Sarah R.; Hamlett, Carol L.; Fuchs, Douglas; Cirino, Paul T.; Fletcher, Jack M.The major purposes of this study were to assess the efficacy of tutoring to remediate 3rd-grade computational deficits and to explore whether remediation is differentially efficacious depending on whether students experience mathematics difficulty alone or concomitantly with reading difficulty. At 2 sites, 127 students were stratified on mathematics difficulty status and randomly assigned to 4 conditions: word recognition (control) tutoring or 1 of 3 computation tutoring conditions: fact retrieval, procedural computation and computational estimation, and combined (fact retrieval + procedural computation and computational estimation). Results revealed that fact retrieval tutoring enhanced fact retrieval skill, and procedural computation and computational estimation tutoring (whether in isolation or combined with fact retrieval tutoring) enhanced computational estimation skill. Remediation was not differentially efficacious as a function of students' mathematics difficulty status.Item Remediating number combination and word problem deficits among students with mathematics difficulties: A randomized control trial(Journal of Educational Psychology, 2009-08) Fuchs, Lynn S.; Powell, Sarah R.; Seethaler, Pamela M.; Cirino, Paul T.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Fuchs, Douglas; Hamlett, Carol L.; Zumeta, Rebecca O.The purposes of this study were to assess the efficacy of remedial tutoring for 3rd graders with mathematics difficulty, to investigate whether tutoring is differentially efficacious depending on students' math difficulty status (mathematics difficulty alone vs. mathematics plus reading difficulty), to explore transfer from number combination (NC) remediation, and to examine the transportability of the tutoring protocols. At 2 sites, 133 students were stratified on mathematics difficulty status and site and then randomly assigned to 3 conditions: control (no tutoring), tutoring on automatic retrieval of NCs (i.e., Math Flash), or tutoring on word problems with attention to the foundational skills of NCs, procedural calculations, and algebra (i.e., Pirate Math). Tutoring occurred for 16 weeks, 3 sessions per week and 20-30 min per session. Math Flash enhanced fluency with NCs with transfer to procedural computation but without transfer to algebra or word problems. Pirate Math enhanced word problem skill as well as fluency with NCs, procedural computation, and algebra. Tutoring was not differentially efficacious as a function of students' mathematics difficulty status. The tutoring protocols proved transportable across sites.Item The effects of strategic counting instruction, with and without deliberate practice, on number combination skill among students with mathematics difficulties(Learning and Individual Differences, 2010-04) Fuchs, Lynn S.; Powell, Sarah R.; Seethaler, Pamela M.; Cirino, Paul T.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Fuchs, Douglas; Hamlett, Carol L.The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effects of strategic counting instruction, with and without deliberate practice with those counting strategies, on number combination (NC) skill among students with mathematics difficulties (MD). Students (n = 150) were stratified on MD status (i.e., MD alone versus MD with reading difficulty) and site (proximal versus distal to the intervention developer) and then randomly assigned to control (no tutoring) or 1 of 2 variants of NC remediation. Both remediations were embedded in the same validated word-problem tutoring protocol (i.e., Pirate Math). In 1 variant, the focus on NCs was limited to a single lesson that taught strategic counting. In the other variant, 4-6 min of practice per session was added to the other variant. Tutoring occurred for 16 weeks, 3 sessions per week for 20-30 min per session. Strategic counting without deliberate practice produced superior NC fluency compared to control; however, strategic counting with deliberate practice effected superior NC fluency and transfer to procedural calculations compared with both competing conditions. Also, the efficacy of Pirate Math word-problem tutoring was replicated.Item The role of cognitive processes, foundational math skill, and calculation accuracy and fluency in word-problem solving versus prealgebraic knowledge(Developmental Psychology, 2016-01) Fuchs, Lynn S.; Gilbert, Jennifer K.; Powell, Sarah R.; Cirino, Paul T.; Fuchs, Douglas; Hamlett, Carol L.; Seethaler, Pamela M.; Tolar, Tammy D.The purpose of this study was to examine child-level pathways in development of prealgebraic knowledge versus word-problem solving, while evaluating the contribution of calculation accuracy and fluency as mediators of foundational skills/processes. Children (n = 962; mean 7.60 years) were assessed on general cognitive processes and early calculation, word-problem, and number knowledge at start of Grade 2; calculation accuracy and calculation fluency at end of Grade 2; and prealgebraic knowledge and word-problem solving at end of Grade 4. Important similarities in pathways were identified, but path analysis also indicated that language comprehension is more critical for later word-problem solving than prealgebraic knowledge. We conclude that pathways in development of these forms of 4th-grade mathematics performance are more alike than different, but demonstrate the need to fine-tune instruction for strands of the mathematics curriculum in ways that address individual students' foundational mathematics skills or cognitive processes.