Effect of "Understand and Solve " Strategy Instruction on Mathematical Problem Solving of Students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Alpaslan Karabulut,Emine Rüya Özmen

doi:10.26822/iejee.2018245314

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of “Understand and Solve!” Strategy on change problems including change of a one-step addition and subtraction of children with mild intellectual disabilities and whether they maintained their achievements 3, 5, and 8 weeks after the intervention. Moreover, the effects of the Understand and Solve! Strategy on generalization to different types of problems and multiple step problems as well as on the perception, attitudes, knowledge, use, and control of problem solving strategy were investigated. Three students with intellectual disabilities who were 11 to 12 years old and attended 5th grade participated in the study. “A Multiple Probe Design Across Subjects,” which is one of the single subject research designs, was used in the study. The findings of this study showed that Understand and Solve! Strategy was effective in teaching students with mild intellectual disabilities solving change problems including one-step addition and subtraction, they maintained their skills and generalized their skills to different problem types, two-step change problems. As a result of the intervention, students’ perception and attitudes towards mathematics as well as knowledge, use and control of strategies to solve mathematical problems positively changed.

Highlights

Problem solving, which is one of the principal achievements during elementary school years, constitutes an important place in every stage of life during both school years and after
As it can be seen in Graphic 1, the level of data path obtained at the end of the Understand and Solve! Strategy is higher than the baseline
The findings of this study showed that Understand and Solve! Strategy was effective in teaching students with mild intellectual disabilities solving change problems including one-step addition and subtraction, they main

Summary

Introduction

Problem solving, which is one of the principal achievements during elementary school years, constitutes an important place in every stage of life during both school years and after. Solving a mathematical problem is defined as a complex cognitive activity which involves several processes and strategies (Montague, 2000). During this activity, cognitive and metacognitive processes and strategies are used (Montague, 2008; Montague & Dietz, 2009; Özsoy & Ataman, 2009). Metacognitive processes focus on the awareness of the cognitive knowledge that manages and organizes the cognitive processes that are needed for problem solving. This awareness includes strategy knowledge and use and strategy control (Montague, 1992). The metacognitive strategies i.e., self-regulation that provides for strategy organization and awareness used in problem solving involve self-instruction, self-question, and self-monitoring (Montague, 1992; 2007; 2008)

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Conclusion