Direct instruction in math word problems: students with learning disabilities.

Area of Science:

• Education
• Special Education
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Students with learning disabilities often struggle with mathematical word problems.
• Identifying the correct algorithm is a critical step in solving these problems.
• Current instructional methods may not adequately address these challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of strategy teaching versus sequencing practice problems for students with learning disabilities.
• To determine the optimal instructional approach for teaching algorithm identification in word problems.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-two students with learning disabilities were divided into three groups: strategy plus sequence, strategy only, and sequence only.
• The groups received different combinations of instructional interventions.
• Student performance on identifying algorithms for addition and subtraction word problems was assessed.

Main Results:

• Both the strategy-plus-sequence and strategy-only groups significantly outperformed the sequence-only group.
• Strategy teaching emerged as the more impactful instructional component.
• Students receiving strategy instruction demonstrated superior algorithm identification skills.

Conclusions:

• Strategy teaching is a highly effective component for instructing students with learning disabilities in solving word problems.
• Instructional design should prioritize explicit strategy instruction for algorithm identification.
• These findings have implications for developing targeted interventions for special education.