The Effect of External Representations on Compare Word Problems: Supporting Mental Model Construction |
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| Authors: | David Múñez Josetxu Orrantia Javier Rosales |
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| Institution: | Universidad de Salamanca , Spain |
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| Abstract: | This study explored the effectiveness of external representations presented together with compare word problems, and whether such effectiveness was moderated by working memory. Participants were 49 secondary school students. Each participant solved 48 problems presented in 4 presentation types that included 2 difficulty treatments (number of steps and language consistency). Data from errors and response times indicated that adding a graph to compare word problems helped accuracy (d =.60) and response time (d =.44). This effect was larger for difficult and cognitively demanding problems. Findings suggest that external representations might help problem-solvers build a mental model of the described problem situation. In addition, working memory was not found to moderate the effectiveness of external representations. |
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| Keywords: | compare word problems external representations word problem solving |
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