Where should "you" go in a math compare problem?

Abstract

This study examined the cognitive effects of self-referencing in math word problems in 100 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Two types of compare problems were used: compare unknown (CU) and referent unknown (RU). The word you was placed in the problems either as the known or the unknown term. For the CU problems, self-referencing facilitated students' performance regardless of the position of the you term. When self-referencing was applied, students asked for fewer repeats and solved these CU problems faster and with greater accuracy. For the RU problems, however, students benefited from self-referencing only when the self term was placed as the compare (known) term. When the you term was placed as the referent term, the facilitative effect of self-referencing disappeared. The position of the you term in a RU problem apparently has an impact on the translation procedure required in solving the problem. Further research on the cognitive processing issues raised by these data is suggested and the educational implications of the findings are discussed.

Student performance and attitudes using personalized mathematics instruction

“…One is that students' greater familiarity with personalized problem situations and content may enable them to solve problems more easily by reducing their cognitive load (Lopez & Sullivan, 1991Miller & Kulhavy, 1991). This position is supported by d 'Ailly, Simpson, and MacKinnon's (1997) statement that "self-referencing facilitates general encoding processes and decreases the load on working memory during problem solving" (p. 566).…”

Selfish learning: The impact of self-referential encoding on children's literacy attainment

“…d 'Ailly et al (1997) argue that self functions to decrease the cognitive load of the relational tasks, but there is no direct evidence of the route through which the self improves performance. The engagement argument expounded here may offer an additional explanation (Christenson et al, 2012;Fredericks et al, 2004).…”

“…D 'Ailly, Simpson and MacKinnon (1997) Such improvements may reflect an increase in task engagement (Davis-Dorsey, Ross, & Morrison, 1991;Fairbairn, 1993;Giordano, 1990;Hart, 1996). Drawing these arguments together, a logical prediction is that embedding selfreferencing strategies in educational materials could fulfill both of Sadoski's (2001) key criteria of effective teaching strategy: promoting rich encoding and increasing engagement in learning.…”

Body‐based activities in secondary geometry: An analysis of learning and viewpoint

“…One potential difference is that body‐based activities afford the adoption of a first person, active viewpoint that is not supported by non‐body‐based instruction (Crowder, ). Engaging with mathematics concepts as a first‐person actor could further support learning by explicitly linking mathematical ideas to personal experience and knowledge (D'Ailly, Simpson, & MacKinnon, ).…”

“…Symons and Johnson () describe how self‐referencing facilitates recall by promoting organization and elaboration of new ideas in relation to one's self. In education, self‐referencing has been shown to support comprehension and change the way students process information while solving mathematics word problems (Anand & Ross, ; D'Ailly et al, ).…”