Supporting Solving Word Problems Involving Ratio Through the Bar Model

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of the Bar Model as a problem solving heuristic in improving Year 8 students’ performance in solving word problems involving ratio. A total of thirty-three Year 8 students from a secondary school in Brunei Darussalam were involved in the study. Data were collected through pre-test and post-test. Paired sample t-test on the mean score of pre-test and post-test showed a significant improvement in the students’ mean marks (t = - 8.079). The results also revealed that the Bar Model is capable of helping students of all abilities particularly the weaker students. Hence for this study, the Bar Model successfully enhanced the lower secondary students’ performance in solving word problems involving ratio.

High School Students’ Error in Solving Word Problem of Trigonometry Based on Newman Error Hierarchical Model

“…Moreover, word problem tasks can also be used to assess the level of comprehension to the mathematical concepts (Khoshaim, 2020). However, students consider solving word problems difficult (Fatmanissa & Sagara, 2017;Haryanti et al, 2019;Said & Tengah, 2021;Sanwidi, 2018). Moreover, it is shown that more than 50% of teachers in Indonesia complained about students' difficulties in solving word problem (Fatmanissa et al, 2020;Fatmanissa & Sagara, 2017).…”

KNOWS strategy in action: Solving word problems involving ratios

“…This attitude contrasts with what was observed in the pre-test, as many students exhibited a minimal interest in solving the problems. The literature suggests that students are often anxious when solving word problems due to their lack of understanding and weak numerical skills (Estonanto, 2017; Heater et al, 2013; Legg & Locker, 2009; Said & Tengah, 2021). Per our observation, the KNOWS strategy can potentially help minimize these problems as they derive answers by exercising their cognitive abilities based on given procedures through group work and planned instructions on ratios.…”

“…A plethora of studies have also established that students’ perceptions and experiences of mathematical word problems influence their ability to solve such problems (Estonanto, 2017; Heater et al, 2013; Legg & Locker, 2009; Said & Tengah, 2021). For example, Legg and Locker (2009) argued that most students are afraid to solve word problems due to mathematical anxiety and their lack of conceptual understanding.…”

“…Situating these perceptions and challenges in the context of Brunei, the “keyword strategy” is commonly used by teachers when solving word problems; however, this strategy often leads to transformation errors (Pungut & Shahrill, 2014; Said & Tengah, 2021). For example, Said and Tengah (2021) asserted that solely recognizing the keywords would lead to error and misinterpretation when students disregard the meaning, connection, and context. Pungut and Shahrill (2014) maintained that solving word problems is about exploring the context and making conjectures.…”

“…A bar model is a pictorial representation of a problem by using boxes or bars to represent the unknown and known quantities. The literature (e.g., Abdul Gani et al, 2019; Said & Tengah, 2021) highlights that secondary school students successfully applied the bar model to answer word problems in different mathematics topics. For example, Ding (2018) argued that using bar models to solve word problems in various mathematics topics contributed to higher student achievement in China and Singapore.…”