USING MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION TO SOLVE WORD PROBLEM: ATTENTION CONTROL, ORGANIZING INFORMATION AND ELABORATION
Abstract
Mathematical word problems includes problem-solving category. Many students are confused when the teacher gives the word problems because they do not know where to begin their work. The purpose of this study was to determine how students use attention control, organizing information, and elaboration when completing word problem. The sample consisted of 54 high school students from three different school levels were tested twice for two months. The result of the study showed there was progress from the initial test and the final test, which is about the students select and choose the manner deemed appropriate, the organization of information for managing the use of concepts and rules to describes the relationship to writing equations and solve them. Study showed that 1st group study, 2nd group study, and control group tended to have different mathematical expressions and written texts ability while solving algebra and geometry problems, whereas drawing ability tended to be the same for all 3 groups. Even when all relationships were recognised and correctly symbolised, integrating them into an equation was a common difficulty.
Keywords
Mathematical Representation, Attention Control, Organizing Information, Elaboration