The purpose of this study was to assess whether understanding relational terminology (i.e., more, less, and fewer) mediates the effects of intervention on compare word problems. Second-grade classrooms (n = 31) were randomly assigned to 3 conditions: researcher-designed word-problem intervention, researcher-designed calculation intervention, or business-as-usual (teacher-designed) control. Students in word-problem intervention classrooms received instruction on the compare problem type, which included a focus on understanding relational terminology within compare word problems. Analyses, which accounted for variance associated with classroom clustering, indicated that (a) compared to the calculation intervention and business-as-usual conditions, word-problem intervention significantly increased performance on all three subtypes of compare problems and on understanding relational terminology; and (b) the intervention effect was fully mediated by students’ understanding of relational terminology for 1 subtype of compare problems and partially mediated by students’ understanding of relational terminology for the other 2 subtypes.
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