An Investigation of 4th Grade Students’ Abilities of Solving Problems Given in Symbolic, Numerical and Story Formats

Abstract

"Abstract: The purpose of this research is to examine fourth grade students’ ability to solve mathematical problems which have the same solutions but are given in three different formats as ""symbolic, numerical and story (word) problem"" and which require four operations. Within this frame, the students’ solutions in different formats, their correct / incorrect / mistaken answers, and the format type they had the most difficulty were examined. The research was conducted using the case study model of descriptive research methods. The research group consisted of 64 students who were attending at a public primary school in Eskişehir province. The data were obtained by using three problem solving sessions of each format applied to the students and a semi-structured interview performed afterwards with the students. In the research, it was found that the students had more difficulty in the story format problems than numerical and symbolic format problems since they made more errors in story problems. Regarding the reasons of the difficulty they had in story format, it was found that the students could not understand the problem if it was given in story format or they had difficulty in transforming the data in the story in text into mathematics language."