Meta-Analysis on Math Interventions 1

Meta-Analysis on Math Interventions assignment

Thuy Nguyen

EDLC530: Teaching Mathematics Assignment

Professor John Squires

July 3, 2025
Meta-Analysis on Math Interventions 2

Summary

The article, “Mathematic Instruction for Students With Learning Disabilities: A

Meta-Analysis of Instructional Components,” examines methods for teaching math to

people with learning disabilities. They studied four different contexts in which

mathematics is taught to students with learning disabilities to evaluate whether certain

techniques enhance a learner's ability to understand concepts mathematically.

Approaches to instruction and/or curriculum design, formative assessment data and

feedback to the teacher concerning the mathematics performance of students with

learning disabilities, feedback provided to the students with disabilities in reference to

their performance, and peer assisted math instruction. (Gersten, 2009). The meta-

analysis placed emphasis on six components of education, which include explicit

instruction, heuristics, verbalization by students, problem visualization, example range

and sequence, as well as other curricular and instructional factors.

Specific instruction and strategy application are two of the six elements identified

as being capable to support arithmetic comprehension of students with learning

disabilities. However, no relationship was observed with goal-setting or peer tutoring.

The authors noted that students were likely to perform better if mathematics problems

were solved with a combination of reading, visual aids, speech, and written solutions.

This specific selection of studies that underwent evaluation might not be

representative of the population, and because so many studies had numerous parts,

disentangling visual representations' distinct impact during teaching remains a

monumental task even in the most favorable situations. (Gersten, 2009).

Analysis

Researchers have offered different methods and resources to enhance arithmetic

comprehension for students with learning disabilities. It is important to address all students’

knowledge-acquiring needs through creative strategies. They focus on instructional practices that

are effective or ineffective for students with learning disabilities. Students were asked to self-set

a goal and to work with peers towards achieving the goal, which did not affect any of the

variables under study. For students with learning disabilities, mental imagery, explicit

instruction, and reliance on heuristics are some strategies which have been noted as helpful.

Visual aids graphs pictures and diagrams help to concretize the mathematics for children

who have learning disabilities. Measurements and numbers can also be expressed physically,

which helps visualization of mathematics. The authors claim that mastering new concepts and

procedures in math also requires visual aids. The ability to independently "see" solutions is

solutionately describe. Visual aids can be quite beneficial in the math classroom. I found that

some students learn math for the first time when they are provided a visual graph.

Students with learning disabilities are taught math through explicit instruction which

teaches them step-by-step how to solve specific problems. The teacher should present all the

steps to answering the questions through explicit instruction techniques. The educator will then

explain why these procedures were chosen and their relevance to the current task. Students are

then expected to independently attempt to solve a problem through the process that was modeled.

Defined as: demonstrating something, explaining it, then implementing it are essential for

problem solving. There are three simple approaches within this part of math instruction.
Meta-Analysis on Math Interventions 4

Lastly, heuristics have proven to aid students with learning disabilities as well. The

researchers describe how focusing on certain words helps students as long as those words are

targeted. Read the problem, Solve the problem, Subtract the numbers and Add the numbers

(Gersten, 2009). Heuristics tailored for students with learning disabilities are very

multidisciplinary. Such students can focus on those directional words without becoming lost or

overwhelmed.

Application

The effectiveness of the above strategies has been documented to assist students with

learning disabilities in acquiring mathematical comprehension. As we all know, mathematics is a

complex domain that not all students can master, no matter if they have a learning disability or

not. Students with learning disabilities can benefit from the strategies mentioned above.

Moreover, students’ achievements are likely to improve if educators consistently apply strategies

aligned with the recommended interventions. In relation to mathematics instruction, educators

can implement visualizations by demonstrating step-by-step problem solving, illustrating

concepts graphically, and employing other relevant teaching techniques. Specific mnemonic

heuristics can also be taught where students are trained to recall a list of frequently used terms

relevant to a particular subject area. In this light, with the application of these strategies,

educators will not only assist students with learning disabilities improve in mathematics, but also

enhance their future academic performance.

References

Gersten, R., Chard, D. J., Jayanthi, M., Baker, S. K., Morphy, P., & Flojo, J. (2009).

Mathematics Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of

Instructional Components. Review of Educational Research, 79(3), 1202-1242.

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