Original Research

Exploring mathematical discussion in word problem-solving

Percy Sepeng, Paul Webb
Pythagoras | Vol 33, No 1 | a60 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/pythagoras.v33i1.60 | © 2012 Percy Sepeng, Paul Webb | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 10 October 2011 | Published: 15 August 2012

About the author(s)

Percy Sepeng, Marang Centre for Mathematics and Science Education, University of the Witwatersrand; Centre for Educational Research, Technology and Innovation, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
Paul Webb, Centre for Educational Research, Technology and Innovation, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

Abstract

This study explored whether discussion as a teaching strategy in mathematics classrooms could have positive gains in improving learners’ problem-solving performance, as well as their ability to make sense of real wor(l)d problems. This article discusses the partial findings of a bigger study that used a pre-test intervention or post-test mixed-method design and utilised both quantitative and qualitative data. Analysis of the data generated from both pre-tests and post-tests suggests that the intervention strategy significantly improved the experimental group’s problem-solving skills and sense-making performance. The statistical results illustrate that the experimental group performed significantly better than the comparison group in the post-test. The main finding of this study is that in classrooms of experimental schools in which discussion technique was successfully implemented, there was a statistically significant improvement in the learners’ competence in solving word problems.

Keywords

mathematical discussion; word problems

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Crossref Citations

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