Effects of Chunking Intervention on Enhancing Geometry Performance in High School Students With Mathematics Difficulties

• In Event: Research on Inclusive Math and Literacy Instructional Practices in Special Education

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of chunking strategy in improving geometry performance of students with mathematics learning difficulties (SWMLDs). An adapted multiple-probe design across participants was used to evaluate the functional relation between the chunking intervention and SWMLDs’ performance in geometry problem-solving. Participants included three 10th grade SWMLDs and were taught to identify visual geometry chunks from sophisticated diagrams to solve geometry problems on angels and lines. Results suggested that chunking intervention improved SWMLDs’ performance on geometry problem solving probes and kept the improvement on a maintenance test two weeks after the posttest. We also found some improvement on the three generalization tests related to geometry topics covered in this intervention. Future research may further validate the effectiveness of chunking.

Authors

• Moosa Ali Abdullah Al Hadi, Ministry of Education, Oman

• Dake Zhang, Rutgers University