Author:

Keywords:

word problems, 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy, 1303 Specialist Studies in Education, 1701 Psychology, Education

Abstract:

The aim of the present study was to collect in a systematic way empirical data about the (lack of) activation of real-world knowledge during elementary school pupils' understanding and solution of school arithmetic word problems. Ten pairs of word problems were collectively administered to 75 fifth-graders during a typical mathematics lesson. While the first item of each pair could be modeled and solved in a straightforward and unproblematic way by one or two simple arithmetic operations with the given numbers, the second problem could not be modeled and solved in such a way, at least if one seriously takes into account the realities of the context called up by the problem statement. An analysis of the pupils' reactions to these problematic word problems shows an alarmingly small number of realistic responses or additional comments based on realistic considerations.