What Are the Strategies Used by Seventh Grade Students While Solving Proportional Reasoning Problems?
Journal Title: International Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics (IJESIM) - Year 2014, Vol 1, Issue 2
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate seventh grade students’ use of solution strategies needed to solve proportional reasoning problems. A private middle school and two public middle schools of a city located in the inner region of Turkey were selected as the sample of the study. In total, 278 students (157 boys and 121 girls) took part in the study. Survey methodology was used to describe seventh grade students’ proportional reasoning strategies. Proportional Reasoning Test (PRT) consisting of five open ended problems was developed by the researchers to determine students’ solution strategies. Student responses to each problem were graded by the help of a rubric. Besides, the correct solution strategies used by the students were coded by considering pre-existing proportional reasoning strategies in the mathematics education literature. Analysis of students’ correct responses showed eight different solution strategies including cross product algorithm, factor of change, building up, equivalent fractions unit rate, part-to-part reasoning, ratio tables and part-to-whole reasoning. The number of strategies used in each problem ranged between two and five. As a whole, the most frequent strategies used by the students were cross product algorithm, factor of change strategy and part-to-part reasoning strategy. However, cross product algorithm was the most frequent strategy among all strategies. This strategy has no physical referent and lacks meaning for students. Therefore, cross product algorithm should not be introduced to students until they have many experiences with intuitive and conceptual strategies such as factor of change strategy, build-up strategy or unit rate strategy
Authors and Affiliations
Ramazan Avcu, Mustafa Doğan
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP471137
- DOI 10.17278/ijesim.2014.02.003
- Views 149
- Downloads 0
Teachers' Beliefs about Mathematical Problem Solving
The purpose of the study is to investigate the teachers' beliefs which are about mathematical problem solving. In this study as a method, for investigating problem of the research descriptive survey method was used. In t...
An Investigation of the Questions Prepared by Pre-Service Middle School Mathematics Teachers on Fraction Concept
Knowledge of assessment is considered as a dimension for professional knowledge of teachers (Magnusson, Krajcik, & Borko, 1999) since assessment and measurement of teachers’ knowledge is vital for quality issues in educa...
Learning Mathematics and Differentiated Instruction in the Philippines: A Phenomenographical Study on Struggles and Successes of Grade 7 Students
Differentiated Instruction (DI) has been found to be effective in catering to the individuality of students and at the same time helping students to have positive attitudes about school, increased engagement in learning,...
What Are the Strategies Used by Seventh Grade Students While Solving Proportional Reasoning Problems?
The aim of this study was to investigate seventh grade students’ use of solution strategies needed to solve proportional reasoning problems. A private middle school and two public middle schools of a city located in the...
A Comparison between Pre-service and In-Service Elementary Teachers’ Subject Matter Knowledge of Pattern of Figure
The aim of this study is to determine the subject matter knowledge of pre-service and in-service elementary teachers related to pattern of figure and to compare them with respect to their subject matter knowledge about p...