Effects of Situation Presentation Formats on Middle School Students' Ability to Pose Mathematical Problems

• In Event: Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Research and Mathematics Education SIG Posters

Abstract

This study examined the effect of different presentation formats of a realistic situation on students’ mathematical question asking behavior. Thirty-six middle school students were divided into two groups and shown a realistic, problem-posing situation in Artifact or Video format. Silver’s core dimensions of creativity (fluency, flexibility, and originality) were used to measure students’ problem-posing activity. The Artifact group wrote more questions than the Video group. However, there was no difference between groups on numbers of mathematics problems written. On the flexibility measure, the Video group wrote questions in more mathematical domains than the Artifact group. No between groups differences were found on originality. The results indicate instructors should align the presentation format with the goals of problem-posing exercises.

Authors

• David A Coffland, Idaho State University

• Ying Xie, Northern Illinois University