Application focused on structural comprehension of mathematics contextual problems for kindergarten students

Pedro Gabriel Fonteles Furtado,Kazushige Maeda,Yusuke Hayashi,Tsukasa Hirashima

doi:10.1186/s41039-019-0096-1

Pedro Gabriel Fonteles Furtado, Kazushige Maeda + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-019-0096-1

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Abstract

There has been a lack of research into conceptually teaching the structure of contextual problems to kindergarten students. This is despite the popularity of contextual problems and the difficulties that students have with them. This study focuses on creating a textless, image-based application that uses the Triplet Structure Model to teach about the structure of contextual problems. This model has been successfully used in the past to teach Japanese elementary school students. The pilot study suggests that young children are successful at learning about the structure of contextual problems by using the application. The results suggest that users’ interactions are not thoughtless and that the interactions improve as they use the application.

Highlights

Contextual problems play a major role in mathematical education
Contextual problems are defined as problems with experientially real contexts in the Realistic Mathematics Education approach (Gravemeijer and Doorman 1999)
The main contribution of our study is that the system we propose focuses on the conceptual understanding of contextual problems while being usable by kindergarten students

Summary

Introduction

Contextual problems are defined as problems with experientially real contexts in the Realistic Mathematics Education approach (Gravemeijer and Doorman 1999) These problems can function as the basis for connecting informal and formal knowledge of mathematics. Past research has shown that proficiency in mathematics in the early years, such as number sense, can predict mathematical performance in later school life (Jordan 2010). This has been verified all the way to the third year of elementary school. The work of Griffin (2004) focuses on cognitive developmental theory to define number sense and teach it through a series of activities and games It has found success in increasing students’ understanding of number sense. Their study focused on more than just number sense, considering subjects such as geometric reasoning, and their results were positive

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