An exploratory study contrasting high- and low-achieving students' percent word problem solving

Asha K. Jitendra; Jon R. Star

doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.11.003

An exploratory study contrasting high- and low-achieving students' percent word problem solving

Asha K. Jitendra, Jon R. Star

Educational Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study evaluated whether schema-based instruction (SBI), a promising method for teaching students to represent and solve mathematical word problems, impacted the learning of percent word problems. Of particular interest was the extent that SBI improved high- and low-achieving students' learning and to a lesser degree on the indirect effect of SBI on transfer to novel problems, as compared to a business as usual control condition. Seventy 7th grade students in four classrooms (one high- and one low-achieving class in both the SBI and control conditions) participated in the study. Results indicate a significant treatment by achievement level interaction, such that SBI had a greater impact on high-achieving students' problem solving scores. However, findings did not support transfer effects of SBI for high-achieving students. Implications for improving the problem-solving performance of low achievers are discussed.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	151-158
Number of pages	8
Journal	Learning and Individual Differences
Volume	22
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.11.003
State	Published - Feb 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education , through Grant # R305K060002 . The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education. We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of all teachers and students who participated. Thanks are extended to the Project Coordinator, Kritin Starosta, as well as the University of Minnesota research assistants: Jayne M. Leh, Sheetal Sood, Cheyenne Hughes, and Toshi Mack.

Keywords

Middle school students
Percents
Schema-based instruction
Word problem solving

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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abstract = "This study evaluated whether schema-based instruction (SBI), a promising method for teaching students to represent and solve mathematical word problems, impacted the learning of percent word problems. Of particular interest was the extent that SBI improved high- and low-achieving students' learning and to a lesser degree on the indirect effect of SBI on transfer to novel problems, as compared to a business as usual control condition. Seventy 7th grade students in four classrooms (one high- and one low-achieving class in both the SBI and control conditions) participated in the study. Results indicate a significant treatment by achievement level interaction, such that SBI had a greater impact on high-achieving students' problem solving scores. However, findings did not support transfer effects of SBI for high-achieving students. Implications for improving the problem-solving performance of low achievers are discussed.",

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An exploratory study contrasting high- and low-achieving students' percent word problem solving

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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