SimCalc¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 1 study (1 causal),q2· 1 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study
Description¶
SimCalc is a mathematics curriculum package developed by the SimCalc project that integrates dynamic representation software, student workbooks, and teacher professional development for teaching rate, proportionality, and linear functions.
Components¶
- SimCalc curricular activity system integrating dynamic representation software, workbooks, and teacher professional development: The SimCalc intervention is an integrated "curricular activity system" combining dynamic representation software, paper workbooks, and teacher professional development, used as roughly three-week replacement units on rate and proportionality (7th grade) and linear function (8th grade). Its hallmarks include anchoring mathematics in "familiar motions, which are portrayed as computer animations," having students build and edit graphs and algebraic functions that control animations, and a pedagogy cycle of predicting, comparing, and explaining. The software links position-time animations to graphical, algebraic, and tabular representations, and the article stresses the integration of components (Roschelle et al. (2018))
Claims¶
- Propensity score analysis estimated a Texas generalizability index of 0.91, and post-stratification yielded a population average treatment effect of 1.47 versus a conventional estimate of 1.44 [+M]
- SimCalc treatment effects were not sensitive to school socioeconomic status or percentage of Hispanic students, and 91% of 7th-grade treatment classrooms exceeded the control-group mean gain [+M]
- An adapted SimCalc intervention in Florida produced strong learning gains (ES = 1.09), significantly higher posttests than predicted from the Texas control group [+M]
- More than 50% of participating teachers continued using the SimCalc intervention a year after the research ended, with perceived coherence and unique value predicting continued use [+M]
- SimCalc replacement units produced statistically significant pretest-to-posttest gains in conceptual understanding with student-level effect sizes of .63, .50, and .56 in three Texas experiments [+M]
- An adapted SimCalc linear-function unit in England produced significant posttest gains versus Texas-control predictions (ES = 0.57), with no significant gain differences by poverty or prior achievement [+M]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- Roschelle, J., Tipton, E., Shechtman, N., Vahey, P. (2018). Generalizability of a Technology-Based Intervention to Enhance Conceptual Understanding in Mathematics (SimCalc Technical Report 10). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/7a123d3c-22ec-46db-b7cf-709c3aa65583
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
simcalc |
title |
SimCalc |
description |
SimCalc is a mathematics curriculum package developed by the SimCalc project that integrates dynamic representation software, student workbooks, and teacher professional development for teaching rate, proportionality, and linear functions. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
element/simcalc-curricular-activity-system |
product_kind |
curriculum |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — roschelle-2018 |
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