The Role of Teacher Training in Cognitive Strategy Instruction to Improve Math Problem Solving

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to offer teacher training and professional development recommendations in mathematics based on the findings of a federally funded 3-year intervention study that improved the problem solving of middle school students with a focus on students with learning disabilities. Over the 3-year project, 29 seventh and eighth grade teachers implemented a problem-solving intervention based on cognitive strategy instruction. Though the intervention was successful in improving students' problem-solving performance, several issues related to teaching effectiveness and teacher training came to light. The article will: (1) describe the intervention and its implementation, (2) present the findings of the study, and (3) discuss the issues of effectiveness and possible solutions via teacher education and professional development.

Using Number Lines to Solve Math Word Problems: A Strategy for Students with Learning Disabilities

“…Yet asking students to create schematic representations that accurately depict problem information is difficult, particularly for students with LD who benefit from more structured, explicit prompts. Even teachers struggle to teach students how to represent problems in a way that will help students develop a viable solution path (Krawec & Montague, 2014). Number lines provide an accessible and flexible model for students to use when solving word problems.…”

Impact of Professional Development Training Curriculum on Practicing Algebra Teachers

“…Hence, this is considered one of the limitations of this study. However, literature showed that often student achievement scores and/or pre-and post-test scores of participants are used to measure the effectiveness of professional development (Krawec & Montague, 2014;Lane et al, 2015). Another limitation of this is that due to the small sample size the evaluation data cannot be generalized outside the participant pool.…”

“…Van Garderen (2008) attributed teachers' lack of conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills to shortcomings in classroom instruction. Krawec & Montague (2014) linked shortcomings in classroom instruction with lack of conceptual understanding and application skills in middle school mathematics students. To address the issue of lack of conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills in middle school mathematics students, Krawec & Montague (2014) conducted MPD that focused on developing conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of middle school mathematics teachers.…”

“…Krawec & Montague (2014) linked shortcomings in classroom instruction with lack of conceptual understanding and application skills in middle school mathematics students. To address the issue of lack of conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills in middle school mathematics students, Krawec & Montague (2014) conducted MPD that focused on developing conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of middle school mathematics teachers. The results showed that professional development that focused on conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills improved the conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of their students (Krawec & Montague, 2014).…”

“…To address the issue of lack of conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills in middle school mathematics students, Krawec & Montague (2014) conducted MPD that focused on developing conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of middle school mathematics teachers. The results showed that professional development that focused on conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills improved the conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills of their students (Krawec & Montague, 2014). Hence, the MPD Day 1 is focused on advancing the participants' algebraic content and pedagogical knowledge, their conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills.…”