Sophistication Matters: The Importance of Strategy Development on Student Performance on Multiplication and Division Problems

• In Event: 28.092 - Sheraton Roundtable Two - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 28.092-5 - Executive Functions, Metacognition, and Problem Design in Mathematics Learning

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between students’ problem-solving accuracy and strategy sophistication on multiplication and division problems. We use the results from an assessment that measured both constructs and was administered over two years to grades 3-5 students in a large urban district. The strength of the correlation between accuracy and sophistication was found to increase with item difficulty. Additionally, prior sophistication was found to be a significant predictor of accuracy across grade levels, problem difficulties, and time. While prior problem-solving accuracy was also a predictor for easier problems, for harder problems strategy sophistication was a stronger predictor of successful performance. Our results suggest that it is important for both researchers and teachers to pay attention to sophistication of strategy.

Authors

• Caroline Brayer Ebby, University of Pennsylvania

• Robert Nathenson, Consortium for Policy Research in Education