Page 211 - Pedagoška vizija / A Pedagogical Vision

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

they offer, and (2) the word problem-solving approaches they advocate (Vi-
cente, Sánchez, and Verschaffel 2020). Regarding the diversity of problem
types, research found that textbooks typically present a stereotypical set of
word problems, which are often solvable though the straightforward ap-
plication of an arithmetic operation with the given numerical data (Pow-
ell, Namkung, and Lin 2022). Notably, there is a significant absence of word
problems that require applying real-life knowledge and reasoning (Orrantia,
González, and Vicente 2005; Pongsakdi et al. 2016; Verschaffel et al. 2020).
An example of a word problem that necessitates real-world knowledge and
reasoning is as follows: ‘Robert wants to tie together two poles that are 12
metres apart using pieces of rope that are 1.5 metres long. How many pieces
of rope does he need?’ In this problem, the solver must recognize that when
tying the pieces of rope together, part of their length will be consumed in
tying the knots. Consequently, the straightforward answer 12/1.5 = 8 is not
correct, as more than 8 pieces will be needed. Engaging with these types
of problems, which Verschaffel et al. (2020) refer to as situationally difficult
problems, allows children to practice not only domain-specific knowledge
and skills, but also promotes critical thinking and creative reasoning. Creativ-
ity is a crucial element of maths problems-solving (Cotič and Felda 2011), and
it should be encouraged in order to foster adequate maths reasoning skills.
It follows that the continuing experience with stereotypical word problems
and the absence of situationally difficult problems in textbooks may hinder
the development of problem-solving abilities.
Textbooks also provide different word problem-solving approaches. For
instance, Vicente, Sánchez, and Verschaffel (2020) compared primary school
textbooks from Singapore and Spain. They found that textbooks in Singa-
pore, a nation where students exhibit high word problem-solving perfor-
mance (Mullis et al. 2011), prioritize a meaningful problem-solving approach,
emphasizing the representation of the problem situation and comprehen-
sion of its mathematical structure. As previously discussed, building a co-
herent mental representation of the problem is crucial for successful word
problem-solving (Doz, Cotič, and Passolunghi 2023; Hegarty, Mayer, and
Monk 1995). In contrast, textbooks in Spain, a country where students exhibit
lowerachievement(Mullisetal.2011),tendtopromoteanapproachthatlacks
reasoning. These textbooks mainly focus on steps related to problem solu-
tion, such as providing specific strategies without promoting generalized
application.
A second major difference observed was related to the use of illustrations
(Vicente, Sánchez, and Verschaffel 2020; Vicente et al. 2022), that is, any pic-

211