Page 209 - Pedagoška vizija / A Pedagogical Vision

What Makes Word Problem-Solving Difficult? Factors Influencing Word Problem-Solving Ability

make more productive use of cognitive resources, and assesses the reason-
ableness of the mathematical outcome.
Empirical evidence suggests that the construction of a mental represen-
tation of the problem and the recognition of the mathematical structure
are critical steps in word problem-solving (see Doz, Cotič, and Passolunghi
2023), since unsuccessful solvers appear to lack engagement in these steps
(Hegarty, Mayer, and Monk 1995).

Domain-General Cognitive Factors
Alongside the influence of domain-specific cognitive factors (i.e. text com-
prehension, representation, categorization, planning, arithmetic skills, meta-
cognition), there is also an important role for general cognitive abilities.
Among these, research highlights the importance of working memory and
executive functions (Passolunghi et al. 2022; Peng and Fuchs 2016).
Working memory is defined as a limited capacity cognitive system that
allows individuals to hold and simultaneously manipulate information over
briefperiodsoftime(BaddeleyandHitch1974).Extensiveresearchhasshown
a strong connection between students’ working memory and their ability to
solve word problems effectively (see Peng and Fuchs 2016). Indeed, working
memory is essential during text comprehension, where the solver integrates
incoming information with previous information, and during the creation
of a comprehensive representation of the problem, where the solver man-
ages the visualizations implied by the problem. Moreover, working memory
is needed for devising the solution plan and keeping the solution pathway
and goals in mind while performing them, as well as for executing the nec-
essary computations.
Regarding executive functions, research has highlighted the importance
of inhibition, defined as the ability to suppress irrelevant information, and
inhibit dominant or prepotent responses (Miyake and Friedman 2012). Word
problem-solvingrequiresprocessingagreatnumberoflinguisticandnumer-
ical information and necessitates inhibiting all irrelevant information in order
to retain in the memory only the solution-relevant elements (Passolunghi
and Siegel 2001). Passolunghi, Cornoldi, and De Liberto (1999) found that un-
successful solvers, compared to successful ones, struggled to recall relevant
information from a problem and made more intrusion errors (that is, remem-
bering irrelevant information). These results indicate that students with poor
problem-solving ability tend to have difficulty in effectively suppressing irrel-
evant information, which may potentially result in memory overload and an
inadequate mental model of the problem.

209