Browsing by Subject "mathematical learning difficulties"

In this study it was investigated, how arithmetic fluency and reading skills are associated with mathematical problem solving skills. 168 sixth graders from four cities participated in the study. Significant association was found only between arithmetic fluency and mathematical problem solving skills as indicated by SEM regression model. Children were divided into three achievement groups by their arithmetic fluency test performance, and differences between these achievement groups were analyzed. In group comparison it was found out that mathematical learning difficulty group and at risk for mathematical learning difficulty group differed from children with average or above performance, but not from each other in mathematical problem solving skills. These results indicate that difficulties in mathematical problem solving skills might result from difficulties in arithmetic fluency. This study extends previous findings that mathematical word problems are difficult for children with mathematical learning difficulties, and this applies to mathematical problem solving tasks as well.