Word Problem Solving in Contemporary Math Education: A Plea for Reading Comprehension Skills Training

Anton J.H. Boonen; Björn B. de Koning; Jelle Jolles; Menno van der Schoot

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00191

Word Problem Solving in Contemporary Math Education: A Plea for Reading Comprehension Skills Training

Anton J.H. Boonen^*, Björn B. de Koning, Jelle Jolles, Menno van der Schoot

^*Corresponding author for this work

Educational Neuroscience

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Successfully solving mathematical word problems requires both mental representation skills and reading comprehension skills. In Realistic Math Education (RME), however, students primarily learn to apply the first of these skills (i.e., representational skills) in the context of word problem solving. Given this, it seems legitimate to assume that students from a RME curriculum experience difficulties when asked to solve semantically complex word problems. We investigated this assumption under 80 sixth grade students who were classified as successful and less successful word problem solvers based on a standardized mathematics test. To this end, students completed word problems that ask for both mental representation skills and reading comprehension skills. The results showed that even successful word problem solvers had a low performance on semantically complex word problems, despite adequate performance on semantically less complex word problems. Based on this study, we concluded that reading comprehension skills should be given a (more) prominent role during word problem solving instruction in RME.

Original language	English
Article number	191
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00191
Publication status	Published - 17 Feb 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Dr J. Aguirre-Ghiso, Dr C. Cord?n-Cardo and Dr I. Mart?nez Zubiaurre for their comments on the manuscript. We also thank the patients for their participation in the study. This work was supported by the Redes tem?ticas de Investigaci?n Cooperativa en Salut, Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) [RD07/0020/2004]; the Fondos de investigaci?n Sanitaria [PI08/0334] FEDER and the Public Health and Progress Foundation, Ministry of Health, Andalusian Government. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Redes temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa en Salut , Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) [ RD07/0020/2004 ]; the Fondos de investigación Sanitaria [ PI08/0334 ] FEDER and the Public Health and Progress Foundation, Ministry of Health, Andalusian Government.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 Boonen, de Koning, Jolles and Van der Schoot.

Keywords

consistency effect
mental representation skills
reading comprehension skills
Realistic Math Education
word problem solving

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00191

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title = "Word Problem Solving in Contemporary Math Education: A Plea for Reading Comprehension Skills Training",

abstract = "Successfully solving mathematical word problems requires both mental representation skills and reading comprehension skills. In Realistic Math Education (RME), however, students primarily learn to apply the first of these skills (i.e., representational skills) in the context of word problem solving. Given this, it seems legitimate to assume that students from a RME curriculum experience difficulties when asked to solve semantically complex word problems. We investigated this assumption under 80 sixth grade students who were classified as successful and less successful word problem solvers based on a standardized mathematics test. To this end, students completed word problems that ask for both mental representation skills and reading comprehension skills. The results showed that even successful word problem solvers had a low performance on semantically complex word problems, despite adequate performance on semantically less complex word problems. Based on this study, we concluded that reading comprehension skills should be given a (more) prominent role during word problem solving instruction in RME.",

keywords = "consistency effect, mental representation skills, reading comprehension skills, Realistic Math Education, word problem solving",

author = "Boonen, {Anton J.H.} and {de Koning}, {Bj{\"o}rn B.} and Jelle Jolles and {van der Schoot}, Menno",

note = "Funding Information: We thank Dr J. Aguirre-Ghiso, Dr C. Cord?n-Cardo and Dr I. Mart?nez Zubiaurre for their comments on the manuscript. We also thank the patients for their participation in the study. This work was supported by the Redes tem?ticas de Investigaci?n Cooperativa en Salut, Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) [RD07/0020/2004]; the Fondos de investigaci?n Sanitaria [PI08/0334] FEDER and the Public Health and Progress Foundation, Ministry of Health, Andalusian Government. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Redes tem{\'a}ticas de Investigaci{\'o}n Cooperativa en Salut , Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) [ RD07/0020/2004 ]; the Fondos de investigaci{\'o}n Sanitaria [ PI08/0334 ] FEDER and the Public Health and Progress Foundation, Ministry of Health, Andalusian Government. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2016 Boonen, de Koning, Jolles and Van der Schoot.",

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AU - van der Schoot, Menno

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Dr J. Aguirre-Ghiso, Dr C. Cord?n-Cardo and Dr I. Mart?nez Zubiaurre for their comments on the manuscript. We also thank the patients for their participation in the study. This work was supported by the Redes tem?ticas de Investigaci?n Cooperativa en Salut, Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) [RD07/0020/2004]; the Fondos de investigaci?n Sanitaria [PI08/0334] FEDER and the Public Health and Progress Foundation, Ministry of Health, Andalusian Government. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Redes temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa en Salut , Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) [ RD07/0020/2004 ]; the Fondos de investigación Sanitaria [ PI08/0334 ] FEDER and the Public Health and Progress Foundation, Ministry of Health, Andalusian Government. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2016 Boonen, de Koning, Jolles and Van der Schoot.

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N2 - Successfully solving mathematical word problems requires both mental representation skills and reading comprehension skills. In Realistic Math Education (RME), however, students primarily learn to apply the first of these skills (i.e., representational skills) in the context of word problem solving. Given this, it seems legitimate to assume that students from a RME curriculum experience difficulties when asked to solve semantically complex word problems. We investigated this assumption under 80 sixth grade students who were classified as successful and less successful word problem solvers based on a standardized mathematics test. To this end, students completed word problems that ask for both mental representation skills and reading comprehension skills. The results showed that even successful word problem solvers had a low performance on semantically complex word problems, despite adequate performance on semantically less complex word problems. Based on this study, we concluded that reading comprehension skills should be given a (more) prominent role during word problem solving instruction in RME.

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Word Problem Solving in Contemporary Math Education: A Plea for Reading Comprehension Skills Training

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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