Browsing by Subject "Eksekutiiviset toiminnot"

The purpose of this review is to investigate which cognitive factors are related to the development of mathematical problem solving skills in primary school children. Problem solving is often defined as a form of learning that enhances creativity and requires to apply one’s knowledge. Yet, in the context of this kind of definition, the relation between cognitive factors and the development of mathematical problem solving skills has rarely been in the focus of studies. This review was made to be part of a larger research project regarding problem solving skills. The literature was gathered to describe the subject as extensively as possible. By applying the Pathways to mathematics model of Sowinski et al. (2015), the cognitive factors were categorized into three groups: language skills, numerical skills and executive functions. In studies concerning language skills, vocabulary and listening comprehension were found to be related to solving mathematical tasks containing irrelevant information. Symbolic and non-symbolic number sense and number ordering were found to be related to mathematical problem solving that required to apply mathematical facts, concepts and procedures. No studies were found to describe a direct relation between executive functions and mathematical problem solving that requires applying of knowledge. Most of the studies found a relation between cognitive factors and traditional arithmetic achievement. In future studies it might be useful to especially concentrate on mathematical open problems.