To play a game they are distributed in groups of four persons. An example is “there are 136 persons at the party. Word problems in mathematics education are typically defined as verbal descriptions of a problem situation in which one or more questions are raised that can be answered by the application of mathematical operations that have been learnt at school on the numerical data that are available in the problem situation ( Verschaffel et al., 2000, 2020). The current study aims to address this hypothesis by extending previous studies in three ways: by including students from a wider age range (third to sixth grade), by including more complex word problems (two-step arithmetic problems and problems including irrelevant numerical information), and by including a set of individual differences measures that taps into language comprehension and domain-general cognitive resources. However, results in more experienced word problem solvers suggest that the steps of constructing a situation and mathematical model become less important, possibly because students use a more superficial strategy, relying heavily on their schemata for solving typical, one-step word problems that does not require fully understanding the situation ( Hickendorff, 2013a). These processes make demands on language abilities as well as domain-general cognitive resources ( Fuchs et al., 2015, 2020 Wang et al., 2016). Central phases are the construction of a mental representation of the problem situation and the transformation of this situation model to a mathematical model, often a specific arithmetic expression ( Kintsch and Greeno, 1985 Cummins et al., 1988 Verschaffel et al., 2000). Solving word problems is a complex, multi-phase process involving an interplay of various cognitive processes ( Verschaffel et al., 2000, 2020). In contemporary mathematics education, arithmetic word problems (also called verbal or story problems) are omnipresent in instruction and assessment. Non-verbal reasoning was more important in standard word problems than in arithmetic problems in symbolic format in one-step arithmetic, and reading comprehension was more important in solving two-step arithmetic word problems than in one-step arithmetic word problems. Results showed that within each grade, performance on the different problem types did not differ, suggesting that already in third-grade students seem helped nor hindered by presenting arithmetic problems in a story, even if that story contains irrelevant numerical information. Their performance was analyzed with multilevel logistic regression analyses. Students ( N=444) from third to sixth grade solved a paper-and-pencil task with 48 mathematics problems, comprising symbolic arithmetic problems and standard word problems, as well as more complex word problems that involve two arithmetic steps or include irrelevant numerical information. The current study aims to address this hypothesis. ![]() These demands may decrease when students get more experienced and use strategies that do not require fully understanding the situation presented in the problem. As such, word problem solving makes demands on students’ language comprehension and their domain-general cognitive resources. ![]() Solving arithmetic word problems requires constructing a situation model based on the problem text and translating that into a mathematical model. Educational Sciences, Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
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