Nastava i Vaspitanje (Jan 2020)
Fourth-grade students' achievement in solving arithmetic problems depending on the context of the problems
Abstract
The learning of mathematical content in the lower grades of primary school tends to take place through working on mathematical problems. Students, however, have varying degrees of success in solving these problems, which depends on the context of the problems. This paper therefore aims to assess student achievement in solving arithmetic problems depending on the context of the problems. The research sample consisted of fourth-grade students from three primary schools in the city of Kragujevac. 165 students were asked to solve a test comprising 12 problems divided into three groups of 4 problems each, given in three different ways - problems given in the context of a mathematical expression, problems given in the context of a mathematical sentence, and problems given in the context of a real-life situation. The results show that fourth-grade students achieved uneven results when solving the same mathematical problems given in different contexts. The results also suggest that student achievement depends on students' gender.
