Anchoring Adolescents' Understanding of Math Concepts in Rich Problem-Solving Environments

High content standards, special education legislation, and new considerations regarding curriculum are pressuring teachers to improve the intellectual quality of students' learning experiences. In mathematics, students are expected to develop more sophisticated problem-solving skills at an earlier age. To date, there is little research to show how to accomplish this objective with students who have been unsuccessful in math. This study describes how students in a remedial math class fared in comparison to prealgebra students on video-based and applied problems aligned to current math standards. Results showed that students in the remedial class matched the problem-solving performance of students in the prealgebra classes. Accounts of individual performances elaborated how students' understandings evolved and provided important implications for instructional practice.