Date of Award
Spring 4-28-2015
Document Type
Education 530 Project
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Education
First Advisor
Gentry, Roberta
Major or Concentration
Elementary Education
Abstract
Over the past few years, teachers have seen a decline in students' mathematical understanding due to a shift from procedural to conceptual knowledge (Griffin & Jitendra, 2008). Many students struggle with comprehending word problems due to being taught strategies that do not emphasize reading comprehension. Various problem solving strategies have been created to help students gain a conceptual understanding of word problems. This study examined three different strategies in order to examine the effects it has on students' understanding of word problems. Students were taught the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy, Schema Based Instruction Strategy, and Visual Strategies. These strategies used different methods to help students understand word problems. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine students' understanding of word problems using these three strategies. Results show that the problem solving strategies helped students to gain a better understanding of word problems but did not affect how students verbally explained how they solved the word problems.
Recommended Citation
Gattuso, Julia, "Problem Solving Strategies: Helping Students Develop a Conceptual Understanding of Word Problems" (2015). Student Research Submissions. 182.
https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/182