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Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 8 (2010) 356361

International Conference on Mathematics Education Research 2010 (ICMER 2010)

Visual Representations in Mathematical Word Problem Solving

Among Form Four Students in Malacca
Azizah Ahmada,*, Rohani Ahmad Tarmizia,b, Mokhtar Nawawia,b
a
Laboratory of Innovations in Mathematics Education, Institute for Mathematical Research,
b
Faculty of Educational Studies
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, MALAYSIA.

Abstract

Learning how to solve mathematical problems has been a long withstanding difficulty faced by students and has been given
constant focus in mathematical development. Successful problem solvers spend more time analyzing a problem and they will
find all the alternatives related to the situation. Therefore many educators (Cai, 2003, National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, 2000; Smith, 1991) agreed that teaching mathematics through problem solving hold great promise. Furthermore,
according to the Malaysian Curriculum Development Centre (2003), one of the important objectives in teaching mathematics is
to develop students mathematical problem solving skills. Mathematical problems are not simply computational tasks type but are
problems which also require appropriate selection of strategies and decisions that lead to logical solutions. Word problem solving
is one of the important components of mathematics problem solving which incorporate real-life problems and applications.
However, many researches revealed that students express great difficulties in handling a word or story problem. This study
examined the use of visual representations which posed great difficulties in most mathematical tasks. Secondary students were
given the 15Mathematical Processing Instrument (MPI) adapted from Hegarty and Kozhevnikov (1999). This study examined
381 students from eight secondary schools in three different districts in Malacca. Results indicated that less than two percent of
the problems were solved using pictorial representation and most of the students preferred to used schematics solutions.

2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Mathematics; Visualization; Word problem

1. Introduction

Learning how to solve mathematical problems has been a long withstanding difficulty faced by students and has
been given constant focus in mathematical development. Successful problem solvers spend more time analyzing a
problem and they will find all the alternatives related to the situation. Therefore many educators (Cai, 2003,
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2000; Smith, 1991) agreed that teaching mathematics
through problem solving hold great promise. Furthermore, according to the Malaysian Curriculum Development
Centre (2003), one of the important objectives in teaching mathematics is to develop students mathematical

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] .

1877-0428 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.050
 Azizah Ahmad et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 8 (2010) 356361 357

problem solving skills. Mathematical problems are not simply computational tasks type but also require appropriate
selection of strategies and decisions that lead to logical solutions.

Word problem solving is one of the important components of mathematics problem solving which incorporate real-
life problems and applications. However, many researches revealed that students express great difficulties in
handling a word or story problem (Gagne, 1983; Orton, 1992, Ekbia & Alamolhodaei, 2000; Takahashi 2000;
Alamolhodaei, 2002; Nickson 2004). Word problem is actually a story problem and the students normally have to
relate between the known and the unknown. As Gagne (1983) suggested, in the process of mathematical word
problem solving, student should be able to translate the concrete to the abstract and the abstract to the concrete.
Therefore the mathematical word problem exam is more unique and challenging task than the ordinary mathematics
task (Alamolhodaei, 2002). Thus, students normally find difficulty in solving word problems initially from
translating the word representations into mathematical representation. Related problem to this was students
difficulty in deriving mental images which then followed by operative actions transforming in to dynamic images,
invoking images of formulae from memory (Dorfler, 1991; Presmeg, 197). Presmeg (1997) pointed out that
concrete imagery needs be coupled with rigorous analytical thought processes to be effectively used in mathematics
problem solving. Hence It is argued that the status of visualization in mathematics education should and can be
upgraded from that of a helpful learning aid (Dreyfuss, 1991 pg. 30). Dreyfuss also pointed out that students
basically were reluctant to use visualization in mathematics and this may be attributed to low status accorded to
visual aspects of mathematics in the classroom. However, he also posed many effective examples demonstrating the
powerful use visualization in mathematical reasoning and learning.

The uses of visual representations in mathematical word problem are very useful. Hegarty and Kozhevnikov (1999)
has approved that the use of schematic spatial representations was associated with success in mathematical problem
solving, whereas use of pictorial representations was negatively correlated with success. Lean and Clements (1981)
also found that there are different types of visual representational strategies used by students when solving
mathematical problems by separating student-generated imagery into five categories: concrete imagery, pattern
imagery, kinesthetic imagery, dynamic imagery, and memory of formula. However Presmeg (1986) argued that
concrete imagery (vivid pictorial images of objects contained in mathematical problems) may actually focus the
reasoning on irrelevant details and distract the solver from the main element of the problem.

This study adapted the method and instruments used by Hegarty and Kozhevnikov (1999). The research questions
of this study were as follows: i) What is the level of achievement in mathematical word problem solving among
Form Four students in Malacca? ii) What visualization strategy do the Form Four students use in attempting
mathematical word problem solving? iii) What is the relationship between the type of visualization strategy used by
the students in solving word problems and their mathematical achievement?

2. Methodology

2.1 Population and sample

The target population for this study is Form Four students in the state of Malacca in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of
381 students took part in this research using the multi-stage cluster sampling. The subjects of study were from eight
different schools (second cluster) in Melaka chosen from three different districts (first cluster) in Melaka, namely
Jasin, Melaka Tengah and Alor Gajah. Table 1 shows the demographic descriptions.

Table 1: Demographic information on the participating students

Gender Male 166

Female 215
Race Malay 272
Chinese 100
Indian 7
358 Azizah Ahmad et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 8 (2010) 356361

Others 2
Mathematics Grade in PMR A 231
B 96
C 54

2.2 The Research Materials

The research material is a set of paper and pencil test named Mathematical Processing Istrument (MPI). The test
comprised of 15-items mathematical word problem solving adapted from Hegarty and Kozhevnikov (1999). The
word problems were also translated into Malay language and posed alongside the English version. This would help
the students who have the difficulty in understanding English language. Table 2 below shows the word problems.
Forty-five minutes were given to the students to answer the questions (with the maximum of 3 min per question).
The students responses were analyzed. The first score was the total number of correct answers or work solutions
shown on the test set. Each correct answer or work solution were awarded one mark whereas the incorrect answer
or work solution were awarded zero mark. Further analyses on the type and frequency of visualization used by the
students for solving the mathematical word problem were conducted. Four categories of visualizations were used:
no answer, pictorial, schematic and the combination of pictorial and schematic. The first category included students
did not attempt to answer the word problems and the second category included students solution involving drawing
pictures or diagrams as formation of mental images related to the word problems. The third category included
students solutions involving schematics (objects and/or parts of an object described in the problem object) and the
fourth category included students solution involving the combination of pictorial and schematics.

Table 2 : Fifteen mathematical word problems

No of No of
No Mathematical word problems
words sentences
1 At the two ends of a straight path, a man planted a tree and then every 5 m 38 3
along the path he planted another tree. The length of the path is 15 m. How
many trees were planted?
2 On one side of the scale, there is a 1kg weight and half a brick. On the other 36 4
side, there is one full brick. The scale is balanced. What is the weight of the
brick?
3 A balloon first rose 200 m from the ground, then moved 100 m to the east, 44 3
then dropped 100 m. It travelled 50 m to the east, and finally dropped straight
to the ground. How far was the balloon from its original starting point?
4 In an athletic race Jim is 4 m ahead of Tom and Peter is 3 m behind Jim. How 25 2
far is Peter ahead of Tom?
5 A square (A) has an area of 1 square meter. Another square (B) has sides 24 3
twice as long. What is the area of B?
6 From a long stick of wood, a man cut six short sticks, each 2 feet long. He 35 3
then found he had piece of 1 foot long left over. Find the length of the original
stick?
7 The area of a rectangular field is 60 square meters. If its length is 10 m, how 31 2
far would you have travelled if you walked the whole way around the field?
8 Jack, Paul, and Brian all have birthdays on the 1st of January, but Jack is 1 38 2
year older than Paul and Jack is 3 years younger than Brian. If Brian is 10
years old, how old is Paul?
9 The diameter of a can of peaches is 10 cm. How many cans will fit in a box 26 2
30 cm by 40 cm (one layer only)?
10 Four young trees were set out in a row 10 m apart. A well was located by the 51 4
last tree. A bucket of water is needed to water two trees. How far would a
gardener have to walk altogether if he had to water the four trees using only
 Azizah Ahmad et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 8 (2010) 356361 359

one bucket?
11 A hitchhiker set out on a journey of 60km. He walked the first 5km then got a 47 4
lift from a truck driver. When the driver dropped him off he still had half of
his journey to travel. How far had he travelled in the truck?
12 How many picture frames 6-cm long and 4-cm wide can be made from a 22 1
piece of framing 200-cm long?
13 On one side of a scale, there are three pots of jam and a 100 oz. weight. On 44 4
the other side, there are a 200g and a 500g weight. The scale is balanced.
What is the weight of a pot of jam?
14 A ship was Northwest. It made a turn of 90 degrees to the right. An hour later 34 4
it made a turn through 45 degrees to the left. In what direction was it then
travelling?
15 15. There are eight animals on a farm. Some of them are hens and some are 33 4
rabbits. Between them they have 22 legs. How many hens and how many
rabbits are on the farm?

3. Results

Table 3 shows the frequencies and percentage of students response to the MPI questions. An overall view of the
correct answers indicated that a large percentage of students (96.1%) were able to answer MPI-6 question. The most
difficult question was MPI-10, with only 44 students (11.5%) able to answer the question correctly whilst the other
184 pupils failed to answer the question correctly. Questions 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, and 15 were solved correctly by a large
percentage of students; 95%, 96.1%, 84.8%, 74%, 83.2% and 72.2% respectively. MPI-3, MPI-7 and MPI-14
questions were solved correctly by more than half of the students, 58.3%, 62.2% and 63.8% respectively. Overall
more than half (59.3%) of the questions were answered correctly and less than 8% of the questions left unanswered.

Table 3: Frequencies and percentage of students response to the questions.

Questions Correct answer Incorrect answer Omission (no answer)

(n=381) (n=381) (n=381)
F % f % F %
1 88 23.1 290 76.1 3 0.8
2 174 45.7 163 42.8 44 11.5
3 222 58.3 133 34.9 26 6.8
4 362 95.0 18 4.7 1 0.3
5 173 45.4 157 41.2 51 13.4
6 366 96.1 15 3.9 0 0
7 237 62.2 115 30.2 29 7.6
8 323 84.8 52 13.6 6 1.6
9 131 34.4 184 48.3 66 17.3
10 44 11.5 309 81.1 28 7.3
11 282 74.0 81 21.3 18 4.7
12 153 40.2 191 50.1 37 9.7
13 317 83.2 35 9.2 29 7.6
14 243 63.8 95 24.9 43 11.3
15 275 72.2 58 15.2 48 12.6

Table 4 shows the frequencies and percentages of visual representations shown by the students in answering the 15
MPI questions. Most of the students solved the questions using a schematic representation, with an average of
66.5% of the students attempted the schematic approach. As low as 38.3% to as high as 81.6% of the students
showed schematic solution mode hence preferred non-visual mode in solving the word problems. An average of
1.4% of the students used pictorial representation in answering the 15 MPI problems. However, nearly a quarter
(average of 26.4%) of the questions was answered using the combination of pictorial and schematics
360 Azizah Ahmad et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 8 (2010) 356361

representations. The following figure shows examples of students combination of pictorial and schematics
representations.

Figure 1: Examples of the combination of pictorial and schematics representation for MPI-4 and MPI-5

Table 4: Frequencies and percentages of types of visual representations

Questions No answer Pictorial Schematics Combination

(n=381) (n=381) (n=381) (n=381)
f % f % f % F %
1 3 0.8 1 0.3 299 78.5 78 20.5
2 44 11.5 9 2.4 267 70.1 61 16.0
3 26 6.8 7 1.8 236 61.9 112 29.4
4 1 0.3 1 0.3 237 62.2 142 37.3
5 51 13.4 7 1.8 245 64.3 78 20.5
6 0 0 0 0 306 80.3 75 19.7
7 29 7.6 6 1.6 201 52.8 145 38.1
8 6 1.6 1 0.3 311 81.6 63 16.5
9 66 17.3 8 2.1 230 60.4 77 20.2
10 28 7.3 8 2.1 193 50.7 152 39.9
11 18 4.7 0 0 310 81.4 53 13.9
12 37 9.7 8 2.1 25 65.9 85 22.3
13 29 7.6 1 0.3 272 71.4 79 20.7
14 43 11.3 22 5.8 146 38.3 170 44.6
15 48 12.6 2 0.5 297 78.0 34 8.9
Total 429 7.5 81 1.4 3801 66.5 1404 24.6

Generally, findings indicated that students preference in solving the word problems were mixed or in combination
form. This may suggest that this group of students may have formed pictorial images during the problem solving but
their mental images were not fully concrete or diagrammatize hence does not lend support to learners during the
problem solving sessions. Ironically, all students took the effort to answer MPI-6 and more than 80% of them used
schematics representations. The most frequent used of pictorial representation (22 pupils) was on MPI-16. This may
be due to the characteristics of question which encouraged or lead students to draw the direction of the ship. On the
other hand, students did not show any use of such representations on MPI-6 and MPI-11 hence indicating that
students preferred to use schematic representation involving arithmetic and algebra solutions. Overall, these
findings indicated that learners preference in visualization of word mathematical problems is schematic rather than
pictorial or combination of pictorial and schematic.

Questions MPI-4 and MPI-10 showed weak relationships between visualization and MPI achievement for both
questions. The other MPI questions showed low and moderate relationship with correlation index (point-biserial)
ranging from .34 to .58. This indicated that students mathematical achievement is associated with ability to
visualize (pictorial representations) or otherwise (non-visualize). This may suggest that students normally choose
any strategy that the easiest and less time consuming to solve the problem without prior analyzing the problems
visually.
 Azizah Ahmad et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 8 (2010) 356361 361

4. Conclusion

The aim of this study is to identify the level of achievement of mathematical word problem solving and the students
representations or visualization of the problems in the process of deriving solutions. In the two questions, majority
of the students preferred to use schematics representations rather than pictorial representations. In conclusion,
students should be given the opportunity to utilize different types of representations in order to help them to
understand any mathematical word problem solving. Students preference mostly depends on what their teacher
have taught them in class. Therefore teachers also must be alert of the representations that can help them to
understand and solve the mathematical word problems.

This finding is additional support for past research suggesting visualization or imagery does not really helps the
processes of problem solving and specifically in word problem solving (Hewitt, 2003; Herman et al., 2004). Much
has to be done in this area of how visualization can be integrated in teaching and learning of mathematics in the
classrooms. As Woolner (2004) pointed out, effective pedagogy that can enhance the use and power of visualization
in mathematics education is perhaps a pressing concern and need further emphases. Ways or strategies to facilitate
visualization in mathematics teaching and learning should be given concern.

References

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Gagne, R. M. (1983). Some issues in the psychology of mathematics instruction. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,14(1), 718.
Presmeg, N. C. (1986a). Visualization in high school mathematics. For Learning of Mathematics, 63, 42-46.
Van Garderen, D., & Montague, M. (2003). Visual-spatial representations and mathematical problem solving. Learning Disabilities & Research,
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