The nature of quantities influences the representation of arithmetic problems: evidence from drawings and solving procedures in children and adults

Catégorie

Conference Proceedings

Auteurs

Gros, H., Thibaut, J.P., Sander, E.

Année

2017

Titre

The nature of quantities influences the representation of arithmetic problems: evidence from drawings and solving procedures in children and adults

Journal / Livre / Conférence

Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Résumé

When solving arithmetic problems, semantic factors influence the representations built (Gamo, Sander & Richard, 2010). In order to specify such interpretative processes, we created structurally isomorphic word problems that could be solved with two distinct algorithms. We tested whether a distinction between cardinal and ordinal quantities would lead solvers, due to their daily-life knowledge, to build different representations, influencing their strategies as well as the nature of their drawings. We compared 5th grade children and adults in order to assess the validity of this hypothesis with participants of varying arithmetic proficiency. Results confirmed that the distinction between cardinal and ordinal situations led to different solving strategies and to different drawings among both age groups. This study supports the cardinal versus ordinal ontological distinction and calls for the integration of the role of daily-life semantics when accounting for arithmetic problem solving processes.

Pages

439-444

Mots-clés

arithmetic problem solving; interpreted structure; semantic encoding; strategy choice

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