Learners in general struggle when working with word problems. South African learners in particular have an added barrier owing to the many official languages that have been legislated. The South African Department of Basic Education, through its curriculum statements, envisages that problem solving will play a fundamental part in mathematics…

This study was conducted while 9th grade students learn to solve inequalities and seeks to understand their approach to solving problems with a real-life context. Specifically, the aim is to understand: (1) What are the main characteristics of the students' approaches to the proposed problems? (2) What is the impact of the real context on the…

According to expectancy-value models, two important motivational constructs are task value and self-efficacy expectations. As students work intensively on mathematical problems in the classroom, teachers need the competence to judge whether students value solving the problem and how confident they are that they will succeed. However, not much is…

As problem posing has been shown to foster students' problem-solving abilities, problem posing might serve as an innovative teaching approach for improving students' modelling performance. However, there is little research on problem posing regarding real-world situations. The present paper addresses this research gap by using a modelling…

In this study, the author examined student attempts to translate a verbal problem into an algebraic statement relating two variables, after they had solved an arithmetic question from the same problem. A total of 645 students from New England (U.S.A.) answered the problem on a mathematics assessment administered at the beginning of the school…

Posing modelling problems in class is supposed to increase students' motivation. As motivation is assumed to emerge from task value and self-efficacy expectations, the present study considered both constructs with the aims to examine (1) whether students have different values and self-efficacy expectations concerning modelling problems versus…

Background: Math is a difficult subject with which many upper middle-school students struggle. In addition to knowledge, skills, and motivation, effective learning strategies play an important role in learning math. Aims: This study aimed to examine the effects of comprehension-oriented learning strategies (perceptual and abstract grouping of…

Implementing an integrated sequence of concrete-representational-abstract depictions of mathematics concepts (CRA-I) can improve the mathematics achievement of students with disabilities, and explicit instructional strategies involving problem-solving heuristics and student verbalizations can help facilitate students' conceptual understanding of…

Visualisation plays a critical role in the teaching and learning of mathematics word problems. It is an essential tool for enabling learners to create meaningful mental pictures necessary for solving mathematical problems. Appropriate visualisation requires good reading skills, English proficiency and an understanding of mathematical vocabulary,…

Mr. Perez and Mrs. Peterson co-teach a ninth-grade algebra class. Perez and Peterson's class includes four students with individualized education programs (IEPs). In response to legislation, such as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2001) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2006), an increasing number of students…

This study is aimed to construct a model to transform word "motion problems" in to an algorithmic form in order to be processed by an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). First; categorizing the characteristics of motion problems, second; suggesting a model for the categories were carried out. In order to solve all categories of the…

Metacognition encompasses knowledge and regulation that, through reflection, sustain problem solving behaviour. How metacognitive awareness is constructed from reflection on metacognitive knowledge and regulation and how these reflections enable metacognitive skills for Mathematics problem solving remain unclear. Three secondary schools…

When confronted with a challenging problem, many solvers may at first think that not enough information has been provided. If, however, they suspect that the problem is solvable, this feeling typically influences them to persevere as well as monitor and reflect on their efforts. In this article the authors present four nonroutine tasks that they…

This study critically examines a key justification used by educational stakeholders for placing mathematics in context--the idea that contextualization provides students with access to mathematical ideas. We present interviews of 24 ninth grade students from a low-performing urban school solving algebra story problems, some of which were…

We conducted an experimental study with 192 ninth graders in which we investigated a connection between performance and students' interest and enjoyment using task-unspecific and task-specific questionnaires. Students were randomly assigned to experimental group 1 or to experimental group 2. In group 1, they were asked about their affective…