This study investigated whether infusing "causal" story elements into mathematical word problems improves student performance. In one experiment in the USA and a second in USA, Finland and Turkey, undergraduate elementary education majors worked word problems in three formats: 1) standard (minimal verbiage), 2) potential causation (causal and mathematical content overlap), and 3) climax resolution (causal and mathematical content combined in a way in which story outcome is discernable). Causal story elements in word problems, written in the USA, improved performance in USA and Finish students, but not Turkey, on word problems with some spatial content. Based on the finding that infusing causal stories played out differently in different cultures we concluded that situation models might be at least as primary as schemas in solving word problems.