Measuring Arithmetic Word Problem Complexity through Reading Comprehension and Learning Analytics

Abstract

Numerous studies have addressed the relationship between performance in mathematics problem-solving and reading comprehension in students of all educational levels. This work presents a new proposal to measure the complexity of arithmetic word problems through the student reading comprehension of the problem statement and the use of learning analytics. The procedure to quantify this reading comprehension comprises two phases: (a) the division of the statement into propositions and (b) the computation of the time dedicated to read each proposition through a technological environment that records the interactions of the students while solving the problem. We validated our approach by selecting a collection of problems containing mathematical concepts related to fractions and their different meanings, such as fractional numbers over a natural number, basic mathematical operations with a natural whole or fractional whole and the fraction as an operator. The main results indicate that a student’s reading time is an excellent proxy to determine the complexity of both propositions and the complete statement. Finally, we used this time to build a logistic regression model that predicts the success of students in solving arithmetic word problems.

Application in Augmented Reality for Learning Mathematical Functions: A Study for the Development of Spatial Intelligence in Secondary Education Students

“…Several studies claim that the inclusion of ICT in the teaching and learning of mathematics helps students to visualize how changes in one variable affect others immediately, thus improving their experience and interaction with learning compared to solving formulas so as to obtain the answer [2][3][4][5][6]. It is common for students to associate the representation of functions with a collection of isolated points rather than a single entity, making it difficult to visualize and interpret graphically [7][8][9].…”

Dificultades con la Fracción como Operador en Discentes de Sexto Curso de Educación Primaria

“…ISSN 1980-4415 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1980 Más recientemente, en el estudio de Egodawatte (2011) otro error que se detecta tiene que ver con el todo sobre el que actúa la fracción, y está relacionado con la naturaleza de los objetos; cuando los discentes se encuentran con un natural multiplicando una fracción, a menudo multiplican tanto numerador como denominador por dicho número natural. En esta misma línea, Sanz et al (2020) determinan mayor complejidad medida a través del tiempo de lectura, cuando se lee una fracción sobre un número fraccionario que sobre un número natural.…”

Analysis of University STEM Students’ Mathematical, Linguistic, Rhetorical–Organizational Assignment Errors

“…The interested reader is referred to the complete literature review offered in Reference [24]. A very recent paper deals with the connection between mathematical errors and reading comprehension [25]. The authors find evidence that the poor understanding of the exercises is sometimes the source of mathematical errors.…”