It’s not a math lesson - we’re learning to draw! Teachers’ use of visual representations in instructing word problem solving in sixth grade of elementary school.

Abstract

Non-routine word problem solving is an essential feature of the mathematical development of elementary school students worldwide. Many students experience difficulties in solving these problems due to erroneous problem comprehension. These difficulties could be alleviated by instructing students how to use visual representations that clarify the problem structure and the relations between solution-relevant elements (so-called visual-schematic representations). Research shows that instructional effectiveness depends largely on teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching. Teachers' knowledge of visual representations is therefore essential to instructing word problem comprehension in this way. As there is little to no literature investigating teachers' practices in this area, the goal of the present study is to examine teachers' use of visual representations to support non-routine word problem solving. Eight mainstream elementary school teachers implemented an innovative approach focused on the use of visual-schematic representations. After a short training, teachers were able to produce these representations during instruction. However, some teachers seemed unclear about what these representations comprise and what function they serve within the word problem solving context. Teachers seemed to base their use of representations on personal preferences rather than on an optimal fit with the word problem characteristics. These aspects need to be addressed in teacher training and professional development programs.! This study makes an unique contribution to research in the important and problematic area of word problem solving in regular classrooms. The results of this study are relevant for educational researcher, teachers, and teacher educators who deal with difficulties in instructing mathematical word problems.

Pre-service Teachers Use of Visual Representation

“…The role of visual representations in the problem-solving process has been investigated in several studies (Boonen, Reed, Schoonenboom, & Jolles, 2016;Edens & Potter, 2007;van Essen & Hamaker, 1990;van Garderen, 2006;van Garderen, Scheuermann & Jackson, 2012;van Garderen, Scheuermann & Poch, 2014). It is known that the pictorial representations adversely affect the problem solving process.…”

Exploring Student’s Representation Process in Solving Ill-Structured Problems Geometry

“…When the students solve the same problem, they do not rule out the possibility of using different representations. This is because the representation used by the students in the problem-solving process is influenced by their learning experiences (Anwar & Rahmawati, 2017) The results of some research on representation in problem solving (Anwar & Rahmawati, 2017;Anwar et al, 2016;Boonen et al, 2016;Santia, et al, 2019;Ulusoy & Argun, 2019) shows that representation is effective in problem solving. Anwar & Rahmawati (2017) conducted a qualitative study involving four 8 th grade students to describe the construction process of students' symbolic and verbal representations when solving problems based on Polya's stages.…”

“…The results of this study indicate that there are two ways in which the students build relationships between the concepts of circumference and area of a rectangle using visual and symbolic representations. Boonen et al (2016) studied eight elementary school teachers to examine the use of visual representations to solve non-routine problems. The teachers are given short training so that they can produce representations during teaching.…”

Use of Buck Method Mathematics Problem Solving

“…Penyelesaian masalah Matematik dikaitkan dengan kemahiran hubungkait konsep Matematik dengan realiti (Boonen 2016). Menurut Yazgan (2016) menyatakan pelajar harus didedahkan dengan strategi-strategi yang berkesan supaya pelajar tidak menghadapi masalah menyelesaikan masalah berayat dalam Matematik.…”