Contemporary psychology, Vol. 7 No. 2, 2004.
Original scientific paper
Adolescent's reasoning in linear and non-linear proportionality problems
Vesna Vlahović-Štetić
Ivana Zekić
Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore children's performance in linear and non-linear proprotional reasoning; to find out strategies which students use and to test their awareness of answer correctness. The other idea was to test if exposure to different levels of cognitive conflict changed the students' answers. The subjects of the study were 40 eighth grade students (22 girls and 18 boys). The data were collected with a half-structured interview. The solving method (to think aloud or to solve the task silently) and the order (linear or non-linear first) of the given problems were varied. After each problem the student was required to estimate the correctness of his answer on a five point scale. If the student's answer was wrong, first a weaker and than a stronger cognitive conflict was provoked.
The data show that children's performance wasn't affected by the solving method and the order of problem administration. The students are much more successful in linear than in non-linear problems, but their estimations of the correctness of their own answers were equal in both cases. While solving the non-linear problems, students have difficulties in understanding the problems, constructing the problem-scheme, they are affected by the illusion of linearity and as a result they give the wrong answers. Faced with the weaker cognitive conflict, they re-evaluate their answers in linear problems but not in non-linear ones. Only after exposure to stronger cognitive conflict the students corrected the majority of wrong answers.
Keywords
Linear and non-linear problems; illusion of linearity; mathematical problem-solving strategies; primary school students
Hrčak ID:
3248
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2004.
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