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Problem solving difficulties in mathematics
examining five process skills in multidigit addition for Hispanic limited English proficient students
xvi, 191 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
This study investigated the performance of 74 Hispanic limited English proficient fourth grade bilingual students on routine story problems involving the addition of three multidigit addends. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to identify where the students were having difficulties in mathematical problem solving in relation to the following five processes: understanding the question, estimating the final answer, representing the problem, solving the representation, and explaining the final answer. By identifying which of these processes are problematic for Hispanic limited English proficient students, teachers will be better able to proceed with appropriate instruction in the needed areas to improve overall problem solving performance. The second purpose was to examine the relationship of each of the five problem solving process skills to arriving at the correct final answer to a problem. This will allow educators to focus their instruction on the specific process skills that are most closely related to arriving at the correct final answer. This is important to teachers as they are under increasing pressure to have students arrive at correct final answers on national and state mathematics examinations such as the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). A discriminate analysis using an all-possible subsets approach and the Wilk's lambda stepwise method were used to answer these questions. Results of the study indicated that the only process skill that was problematic for the Hispanic bilingual fourth grade students was process 2: estimating the final answer. However, the study also indicated that the only process skills significantly related to arriving at the correct final answer to a problem were process 3 (representing the problem) and process 4 (solving the representation). Furthermore, the study results showed that not one of the five process skills was significantly correlated to any of the other four skills. In conclusion, it is recommended that if teachers want their students to arrive at the correct final answer to routine missing end story problems involving the addition of three multidigit addends, instruction should be focused on complete mastery of process skills three and four: representing the problem and solving the representation.
"Major Subject: Curriculum and Instruction".
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-181).