Can teachers identify and overcome content effects in mathematics? A conceptual replication study
Abstract
Our study aims to conceptually replicate and extend findings from Gros et al. (2019), which explored the impact of real-world semantics interference in expert mathematicians' ability to solve 5th-grade level arithmetic word problems. Unlike the original study, our replication examines the performance of secondary-level mathematics teachers, a group with a different kind of expertise. We aimed to determine if teachers, who often need to translate abstract concepts into concrete examples, are less susceptible to semantic interference due to their specific form of pedagogical expertise. Secondary-level school teachers (N = 122) participated in behavioral experiments involving semantically congruent and incongruent arithmetic word problems. Results showed that what we call "semantic incongruence" significantly increased response times and error rates, both among mathematics teachers and non-mathematics teachers, suggesting that pedagogical experience in itself is not sufficient to recognize semantic incongruence when encoding arithmetic word problems. These findings indicate that teachers, despite their pedagogical expertise, fall into the same traps as mathematicians, demonstrating that semantic incongruence interferes with both Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). We discuss the implications of this replication for educational practices, school psychology, and teacher training and make recommendations to reduce the impact of semantic interference and improve instructional effectiveness.
Related
- Pre-service mathematics teachers’ integration of design thinking in STEM lesson plans: Insights from a qualitative case study
- Virion Factors That Target Daxx To Overcome Intrinsic Immunity
- 857 Development of an mRNA cancer vaccine platform enabling flexible antigen exchange and dendritic cell selected delivery to overcome immune tolerance
- Isoindole-benzohydrazide derivative potentiates colistin activity to overcome resistance conferred by MCR-1 variants in Escherichia coli
- Tall adhesions overcome cell surface steric interference and rescue antibody-dependent phagocytosis in macrophages.
BibTeX
@article{gros2026teachers,
title = {{Can teachers identify and overcome content effects in mathematics? A conceptual replication study}},
author = {Hippolyte Gros and Jean-Pierre Thibaut and Emmanuel Sander},
journal = {Journal of School Psychology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.jsp.2026.101573},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05777907v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Can teachers identify and overcome content effects in mathematics? A conceptual replication study
AU - Hippolyte Gros
AU - Jean-Pierre Thibaut
AU - Emmanuel Sander
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
JO - Journal of School Psychology
DO - 10.1016/j.jsp.2026.101573
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05777907v1
AB - Our study aims to conceptually replicate and extend findings from Gros et al. (2019), which explored the impact of real-world semantics interference in expert mathematicians' ability to solve 5th-grade level arithmetic word problems. Unlike the original study, our replication examines the performance of secondary-level mathematics teachers, a group with a different kind of expertise. We aimed to determine if teachers, who often need to translate abstract concepts into concrete examples, are less susceptible to semantic interference due to their specific form of pedagogical expertise. Secondary-level school teachers (N = 122) participated in behavioral experiments involving semantically congruent and incongruent arithmetic word problems. Results showed that what we call "semantic incongruence" significantly increased response times and error rates, both among mathematics teachers and non-mathematics teachers, suggesting that pedagogical experience in itself is not sufficient to recognize semantic incongruence when encoding arithmetic word problems. These findings indicate that teachers, despite their pedagogical expertise, fall into the same traps as mathematicians, demonstrating that semantic incongruence interferes with both Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). We discuss the implications of this replication for educational practices, school psychology, and teacher training and make recommendations to reduce the impact of semantic interference and improve instructional effectiveness.
SN - 0022-4405
ER -