Mathematical Reasoning at the Elementary School Level: Students' Strategies for Solving Written Reasoning Tasks

• In Event: 70.025 - Understanding the Role Participation and Communication Play in Mathematical Understanding

Abstract

Acquiring mathematical reasoning competence is part of elementary school curricula in many countries and often assessed with written national tests. However, apart from the number of correct answers, little is known about how students solve such reasoning tasks. In this article we conduct an explorative investigation of how third-graders solve written reasoning problems. Two independent trained raters classified 570 solutions from a pilot study of a German national assessment according to four different categories: argumentation aspects, quality of reasoning, formalism, and mathematical strategy. It turned out that students’ reasoning is mostly limited to the justification part and leaves some aspects of the reasoning implicit. Most students use the same mathematical strategy and show a preference for linguistic argumentation.

Authors

• Gabriele Moll, Technical University of Munich (TU München)

• Kristina Maria Reiss, Technische Universitaet Munich