View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

Word problems versus image-rich problems: an analysis of effects of task characteristics on students’ performance on contextual mathematics problems.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Word problems versus image-rich problems: an analysis of effects of task characteristics on students’ performance on contextual mathematics problems.
Authors: Hoogland, Kees1, Pepin, Birgit2 b.e.u.pepin@tue.nl, de Koning, Jaap3, Bakker, Arthur4, Gravemeijer, Koeno2
Source: Research in Mathematics Education. Apr2018, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p37-52. 16p.
Subject Terms: *Word problems (Mathematics), *Mathematics students, *Education
Geographic Terms: Netherlands
Abstract: This article reports on a post hoc study using a randomised controlled trial with 31,842 students in the Netherlands and an instrument consisting of 21 paired problems. The trial showed a variability in the differences of students’ results in solving contextual mathematical problems with either a descriptive or a depictive representation of the problem situation. In this study the relation between this variability and two task characteristics is investigated: (1) complexity of the task representation; and (2) the content domain of the task. We found indications that differences in performance on descriptive and depictive representations of the problem situation are related to the content domain of the problems. One of the tentative conclusions is that for depicted problems in the domain of measurement and geometry the inferential step from representation of the problem situation to the mathematical problem to be solved is smaller than for word problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Research in Mathematics Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Description
Abstract:This article reports on a <italic>post hoc</italic> study using a randomised controlled trial with 31,842 students in the Netherlands and an instrument consisting of 21 paired problems. The trial showed a variability in the differences of students’ results in solving contextual mathematical problems with either a descriptive or a depictive representation of the problem situation. In this study the relation between this variability and two task characteristics is investigated: (1) complexity of the task representation; and (2) the content domain of the task. We found indications that differences in performance on descriptive and depictive representations of the problem situation are related to the content domain of the problems. One of the tentative conclusions is that for depicted problems in the domain of measurement and geometry the inferential step from representation of the problem situation to the mathematical problem to be solved is smaller than for word problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:14794802
DOI:10.1080/14794802.2017.1413414