Effect of difference in word formulation and mathematical characteristics of story problems on mathematics preservice teachers and practising teachers

Abstract

This article aims to present the findings of a research which investigated the effect of a difference in word formulation and mathematical characteristics of story problems on their successful solution by preservice mathematics teachers (students) and practising mathematics teachers. The findings show that in the case of a problem with a difference in word formulation of one of its components, but that difference does not entail a difference in the mathematical characteristics and the solution process, the percentage of correct answers to the two versions did not vary significantly. However, when there is a difference in the word formulation of one of the problem's components, leading to difference in the mathematical characteristics and the problem solution, there is a wide gap in the percentage of correct answers between the two versions. These findings were relevant to the preservice mathematics teachers as well as to the practising mathematics teachers. Moreover, the findings illustrate that the students displayed greater originality in the solution process than did the practising teachers. Consequently, during in-service courses and teacher education, it is recommended that we need to focus also on story problems with different word formulations in order to facilitate the thinking processes leading to their solutions.

The interplay of language and mathematics

“…The students also directly addressed the students, asking them to search by themselves for short stories, poems, et cetera, to present them orally or in writing and to emphasise words with one or more meaning in everyday life and another in mathematics language. Integrating literacy activities into mathematics by raising awareness of the various meanings that words can have can, as reported in the diaries, eliminate mistakes (NCTM, 2000;Patkin & Gazit, 2011).…”

“…In the last two decades the prevailing attitude amongst mathematics educators has been that mathematics is a language and therefore all language components must be taken into consideration in mathematics teaching (NCTM, 2000;Skemp, 1972). Difficulties stem not only from failure to acquire mathematical knowledge but from the use of language in general and the abstract nature of mathematics language in particular (Patkin & Gazit, 2011).…”

Conocimiento sobre la resolución de problemas de matemáticas manifestado por estudiantes para profesor

“…A pesar de la importancia del conocimiento de los profesores para enseñar la RP, los trabajos centrados en este conocimiento profesional son escasos (LESTER, 2013), frente a los que se han dedicado a evaluar la competencia del profesor en RP (PIÑEIRO, 2019). Los estudios que se han ocupado de este tema, lo han abordado, indirectamente, de varias maneras, y hacen notar la existencia de un conocimiento específico relativo a elementos propios de la RP (BLANCO; GUERRERO; CABALLERO, 2013;BOOTE;BOOTE, 2018;CHAPMAN, 2012;CRESPO;SINCLAIR, 2008;DEPAEPE;DE CORTE;VERSCHAFFEL, 2010;HALLMAN-THRASHER, 2017;GINÉ;DEULOFEU, 2014;GONZÁLEZ;ELI, 2017;MALLART;FONT;MALASPINA, 2016;OSANA et al, 2006;PATKIN;GAZIT, 2011;TICHÁ;HOŠPESOVÁ, 2013).…”