IJSSER

Title: COMPARING THE ALGEBRA PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESSES OF STUDENTS AND MATH PRACTITIONERS
Authors: Malachai Onwona, John Leddo, Karen Tun, Sara Tun, Diya Karayi, and Anshul Samant
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Malachai Onwona, John Leddo, Karen Tun, Sara Tun, Diya Karayi, and Anshul Samant John Leddo is director of research at MyEdMaster. Malachai Onwona, Karen Tun, Sara Tun, Diya Karayi and Anshul Samant are researchers at MyEdMaster
MLA 8 Leddo, John. "COMPARING THE ALGEBRA PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESSES OF STUDENTS AND MATH PRACTITIONERS." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 7, no. 4, Apr. 2022, pp. 1129-1140, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2022.v07i04.021. Accessed Apr. 2022. APA 6 Leddo, J. (2022, April). COMPARING THE ALGEBRA PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESSES OF STUDENTS AND MATH PRACTITIONERS. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 7(4), 1129-1140. Retrieved from doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2022.v07i04.021 Chicago Leddo, John. "COMPARING THE ALGEBRA PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESSES OF STUDENTS AND MATH PRACTITIONERS." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 7, no. 4 (April 2022), 1129-1140. Accessed April, 2022. doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2022.v07i04.021.
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ABSTRACT: The United States Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress reports that most US students perform below grade level in math. Much research has been conducted on how to improve math performance in students. The present study compares the algebra 1 problem solving processes used by students to those used by math practitioners, professionals who use math as part of their jobs. Eleven algebra 1 students and eight math practitioners were given a set of 20 algebra 1 word problems. Each was asked to solve the problems while a protocol of his or her problem solving processes was recorded. The protocols were analyzed to determine commonalities and differences in problem solving processes both within the practitioner and student groups and between them. Results suggested that students were fairly homogeneous and solved problems algebraically by creating and solving formulas, employing procedural processes as exemplified by John Anderson’s ACT-R framework (1982). Practitioners were more diverse in their approaches and spent more time analyzing the problems up front and used their conceptual analysis to generate problem solving processes that often were simpler than those employed by students and relied heavily on heuristics and pattern recognition, akin to subject matter experts reported in Leddo et al.’s research (1990). Implications for mathematics teaching approaches to build these types of practitioner problem solving skills are discussed.

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