Mathematical Problem-Solving Processes of Students with Special Needs: A Cognitive Strategy Instruction Model Solve It

Alpaslan Karabulut,Emine Ru_Ya Özmen,Ufuk Özkubat

doi:10.26822/iejee.2020562131

Abstract

A Cognitive Strategy Instruction Model namely 'Solve It!' which involves cognitive and metacognitive elements, was developed by Montague (1992) and it is one of the process based teaching strategies. Solve It! is a strategy which aims to teach seven cognitive strategy steps (i.e., read, paraphrase, visualize, hypothesize, predict, calculate, and check) and in each of the cognitive strategy step it contains three metacognitive steps (ask, say, and check). This strategy was used to teach solving word problems to students with special needs. This study aims to evaluate the studies using Solve It!. The reviewed studies are located by conducting searching in the electronic databases, journal indexes and references of studies. A total of 48 studies were found. The researchers reviewed them in terms of inclusion and exclusion criteria and retained 12 of them for descriptive analysis. Analyses showed that Solve It! was found to be effective in teaching mathematical problem solving skills to students with special needs. Findings are discussed, suggestions for researchers and practitioners are made.

Highlights

Mathematics is defined as a symbolic language in which people can share their thoughts about the amount of something with each other (Miller, Butler, & Lee, 1998; Rivera, 1997)
The following four fields were identified by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000) as the basic mathematics fields: problem solving, reasoning, communication, and interaction with the real world
By defining basic mathematics components, the association considers problem solving as an important component of mathematics (Parmar & Cawley, 1997; Rivera, 1997)

Summary

Introduction

Mathematics is defined as a symbolic language in which people can share their thoughts about the amount of something with each other (Miller, Butler, & Lee, 1998; Rivera, 1997). It is considered a universal language throughout the world. By defining basic mathematics components, the association considers problem solving as an important component of mathematics (Parmar & Cawley, 1997; Rivera, 1997). The concept of problem solving may contain information that is rarely unrelated or distracting (Passolunghi, Marzocchi, & Fiorillo, 2005)

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