Ngu, Bing

Phan, Huy

2017

Assimilating multiple interactive elements simultaneously in working memory to allow understanding to occur, while solving an equation, would impose a high cognitive load. Element interactivity arises from the interaction between elements within and across operational and relational lines. Moreover, operating with special features (e.g. negative pronumeral) poses additional challenge to master equation solving skills. In an experiment, 41 8th grade students (girls = 16, boys = 25) sat for a pre-test, attended a session about equation solving, completed an acquisition phase which constituted the main intervention and were tested again in a post-test. The results showed that at post-test, students performed better on one-step equations tapping low rather than high element interactivity knowledge. In addition, students performed better on those one-step equations that contained no special features. Thus, both the degree of element interactivity and the operation with special features affect the challenge posed to 8th grade students on learning how to solve one-step equations.

International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 48(6), p. 876-894

1464-5211

0020-739X

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/21321

en

Taylor & Francis

Will learning to solve one-step equations pose a challenge to 8th grade students?

Journal Article

Publication