Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association
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Educational Research & Development Journal
Vol 16, No 1 (2013)
Errors in Solving Word Problems about Speed: A Case in Singapore and Mainland China |
| Chunlian Jiang |
Abstract |
| Error patterns often reveal the underlying misunderstanding of mathematics concepts, lack of problem-solving strategies, and/or immature problem-solving strategies. In this study, Fong’s schematic model was used to analyze errors made by 1,002 Singapore and 1,070 Chinese students in grades 6-8 in solving 11 word problems about speed. We found that 16-92% of the students from both countries could not get the correct answers to the problems. They frequently made E3 (incomplete schema with errors), E4 (using irrelevant procedures), and E5 (no solution) types of errors. The common second level error analysis revealed several similarities between the Chinese and the Singapore students in making errors in computations, misunderstanding of the problems, mismatching of distances and speeds in finding times, and misconception of average speed. The study provides useful information for the teaching and learning of word problems at the elementary level. |
| Full Text: PDF |
ISSN: 1526-8659