Strategies for Addressing Math Word Problem Difficulties in Grade Two

This report investigates effective strategies for helping grade 2 students, including at-risk learners, solve mathematical word problems. It examines the challenges students face, such as difficulties with abstract reasoning, language barriers, and varying learning paces. The report reviews existing literature, emphasizing the importance of integrating reading comprehension techniques and direct instruction. The study proposes formative assessments and case studies to evaluate the impact of different teaching approaches. It also highlights the role of vocabulary development and tailored instruction for both gifted and struggling students. The report suggests that by implementing strategies that address these challenges, educators can significantly improve students' problem-solving skills and foster a positive attitude towards mathematics. The report also includes a detailed methodology for data collection and analysis.

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EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICAL WORD PROBLEM GRADE TWO
STUDENTS
Name
Professor
City/state
Date of submission

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Introduction
We experience mathematics in our daily lives, and it becomes more significant when we
are faced with situations, which requires problem-solving techniques. The knowledge and
interest in mathematics start at a very tender age, and will majorly depend on how the children
are introduced into the subject. There exist two types of children’s, those who will naturally be in
love with mathematics subject, and those known as at-risk students. The at-risk students will tend
to experience some challenges when it comes to maths due to factors such as slow learning pace,
language barrier, attention deficit, abstract reasoning, retention difficulties, perceptual deficits or
visual/auditory processing. It is, therefore, necessary for the educators to try to find effective
ways that can be used to increase the student's command in the skills in the discipline. The
strategies need to take note of the fact that the different groups of student have different abilities,
and the educator’s needs to handle them accordingly. When effective strategies are employed, it
will be possible to increase student command over the required skills in the discipline. For
instance, adopting a problem-solving strategy integrated with mathematical and reading skills
can be of great significance. Nonetheless, implementation of the strategies lies in the hands of
the educators, and they need to be adequately manned to ensure that students develop a positive
attitude towards the subject.
The objectives of the case study entail:
 To determine the key causes of poor performance and the inability of students to solve
mathematical word problems
 To determine the effective strategies that can be used to curb the causes of poor
mathematical word problem solving and increase student’s command in skills pertaining
to the discipline.

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 To determine how strategies can be implemented to ensure that it caters for both the
gifted students and at-risk students.

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Literature review
At grade two, the students are still young and one significant element of them having
difficulty with mathematics is that, often, they hardly identify the relationship between the skills
taught in class, and the high interest lives they plug into. This implies that the mode of teaching
mathematics at this level needs to demonstrate fun, experience, and natural as the pupils begin to
explore.
.Universally, it has been found that most students experience difficulties to fathom a work out
mathematical word problems. Carcoba & Falomir, (2019), denote that most of the students have
graduated out of high school with a minute understanding of this discipline. In line with this, Zhu
(2015) suggest that to fight against this inability of solving mathematical problems and help
generate the viable strategies for grade two students, need to take a considerate study of the
needy students both the gifted and the special cases.
Difficulties in mathematical word problem solving arise from a number of reasons such
as different paces of learning among students, a deficit of attention, inability to retain concepts in
addition to lack of abstract reasoning (Pagiliaro & Ansell 2012 p.418). With the intention of
developing viable solutions and strategies that will help grade two students who are at risk in
solving mathematical word problems, it becomes necessary to be cognizant of the existing
differences in mathematical abilities among students in addition to the range of challenges they
get when solving problems related to Mathematics ( Carcoba, 2019. P .217)
With the aim of developing effective strategies, Kingsdorf & Krawec (2014), argue that
we need to focus on two types of students. The two categories refer to the gifted students with
the need to be given more challenging work and the second group, which consist of students with
learning difficulties. These two groups can best be referred to as exceptional learners.

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Jitendra et al., (2007), before determining the effective strategies helping grade two
students to solve problems, it becomes a basic factor first to identify the elements that affect
student's ability to understand and iron out a mathematical word problem. Students are incapable
of solving mathematical problems since they are not aware of the strategies present to help them
solve word problems. This situation is further worsened by the lack of comprehending
components of the word problem and designs of the instructions. Learners need to understand the
structures of the problems and arithmetic operations and the processes to be followed when
solving the problems.
Jiang & Hwang Cai (2014) denoted that identification of the best strategies to help grade
two students to solve the problem, the first step was taken by the educators was to identify the
student's characteristics of learning and deploy techniques that are significant since they helped
the learners to gain command over the intended skills linked to their difficulties and abilities. In
this case, to help the students who have difficulty in mathematical word problems, all educators
of mathematics need to have sufficient skills needed in the content of language.
Pfannenstiel (2015), argue that the aim of increasing the mathematical problem-solving
ability of grade two students, the teachers worked on the student's reading skills which involved
the implementation of a number of strategies namely cognitive, metacognitive, psychomotor a
basic problem-solving techniques as part of their regular activities thus increasing their ability to
solve mathematical word problems. In this case, it was necessary to establish guidelines which
will allow educators to equip learners with the required mechanism to understand the language
needed to solve a mathematical word problem
Jitendra et al., (2007) denote that as it has always been said, the ability of the educator to
maintain student's interest in the subject depends greatly on what the teacher does in the

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classroom. Thus he plays the focal role in influencing the interest and attention of the learners
towards solving mathematical word problems. With reference to the Educator's Diary, one can
only claim that teaching has taken place if only learning is realized. This involves considering
the methodology used to disseminate instruction, thus influencing the understanding of the
learners.
Jitendra et al. (2007) ague that to influence the students to command in problem-solving
skills, we need to consider their level of understanding so that the pedagogy used may be
appropriate and enhance their command in skills needed to solve a mathematical word problem.
Previous studies show that the use of direct instructions and student-centered learning can
influence greatly and help improve the skill for solving problems, especially of at-risk students in
grade two.
According to the research done by Mushangwe (2014), for students to be in a position of
solving mathematical word problems with ease, a number of methods can be used which have
been proven based on the previous researches. Reading and mathematical strategy (text
comprehension technique). This is one of the most effective technique that can be used to help
grade two students to increase their command in mathematical skills. Comprehending
mathematical problems requires a lot of reading which might be cumbersome for the low
achievers (Poch, van Garderen & Scheuermann 2015 p.160). This involves viewing texts that
have been written as small units of instructions. In this case, the young at-risk grade two students
are identified early and given enough training, their ability to understand mathematical word
problems can be improved greatly, thus increasing their command in the discipline. According to
Mousley & Kelly (2017), this strategy further involves generative learning. The technique
requires the learner to read a particular text, comprehend it, and paraphrase it. This may help the

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educator to determine whether the learner has understood the text or not.it can further be
cultivated by encouraging the learners to try and draw the picture of the central idea.
Freeman, Shaqwana & O'Brien (2015), posited that another generative scheme for
improving the accuracy of solving problems among grade two students especially those with
difficulties in math is to focus on enacting cognitive methods and visual-spatial instruction
strategies.

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Methodology for data collection
A formative assessment for the classroom teacher and the student will be designed and used as a
source of the data used in the study. The assessment designed is expected to take the following
nature.
GRA
GRADE TWO FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
1. There are five stones. James picked stones. Peter picked two
stones, how many stones did James pick?
2. Dan has one ripe fruit and one unripe fruit. How many fruits
does Dan have altogether?
3. Seth has two bags. Each bag has two sweets. How many sweets
does Seth have?
4. Susan has eight sweets. She shares four sweets equally
between her two sisters. How many sweets does she share
with one sister?

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Vocabulary/language for mathematics
When teaching mathematics to grade two students, the language used should be easily
comprehensible by the learner; therefore, certain vocabulary will be used to enable the learner to
develop mathematical reasoning. The vocabulary that can be used include;
word operation Example of
fewer subtraction There are five stones. James
picked stones. Peter picked
two stones, how many stones
did James pick?
altogether addition Dan has one ripe fruit and
one unripe fruit. How many
fruits does Dan have
altogether?
Each multiplication Seth has two bags. Each bag
has two sweets. How many
sweets does Seth have?
share division Susan has eight sweets. She
shares four sweets equally
between her two sisters. How
many sweets does she share
with one sister?

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Pre-test and post-test questions will be given to the learner, and this will be used to detect the
different attitude held by the learners towards the different teaching criteria used and the subject.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The research questions asked will be:
 Starter questions-they provide the learner with a starting point when answering questions.
They are open-end questions that do not limit the learner to a specific answer, thus giving
them a general approach when answering the questions.
 Assessment questions will be used to test the learner by asking the learner to give a clear
explanation as to how they arrived at the answer.
 Discussion questions will be used to encourage the learners to share their different views
when answering the questions.
PARTICIPANTS
Two students will be selected in the study. A reference to their school records will be made to
aid in the selection process. The rationale to be used in the study will be made of the following;
The first case study
Name: David
Age: 5 years old
Significant relationships:
Significant learning information:
Significant information gained by observation:

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The potential focus on learning/teaching:
Related teaching strategies:
Study case 2:
Name: Jane
Age: 5 years old
Significant relationships:
Significant learning information:
Significant information gained by observation:
The potential focus on learning/teaching:
Related teaching strategies:
DATA COLLECTION
Primary method data collection will be used in gathering information from the participants,
which entails is observation and children feedback. A discussion question will also be given, and
the interaction of the learners be observed. The learner's feedback will be analyzed from the
information obtained from the formative assessment, which, will be used as a source of data. The
reason behind the use of formative assessment as a tool for the collection of data is to get the real
feedback on the ground from the grade two children, which is more likely to generate reliable
results. Different questions with vocabulary that is easily understood by the learner will be used
Ethically, an explanation will be given to the children as well as their tutor on the essence of the
formative assessment, and it will be based on the ones who are willing, in order to avoid
compromising ethical standards.

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ANALYSIS
The pre-test will be done before the instruction are given to the students. On the other hand, the
post-test analysis will be conducted on the same learners to observe their attitude towards
specific the student’s summative and formative assessment results will be analyzed to determine
the level of improvement after the instructional strategies have been implemented questions. To
analyses the post-test data, content analysis will be used as it objectively describes and quantifies
a phenomenon. Further, this method will enable the researcher to learn and have a clear
comprehension of the intentions of the author's text. The process of analysis will be divided into
three phases: preparation, organization, and reporting.
The rationale used during the analysis of the data will be repeated, and categorical data be
analyzed, and any patterns of the learner's behavior derived from the Data will then be recorded
in a descriptive manner.
TIMELINES, ROLES, AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The study will take five weeks. The location where the study is conducted is recorded, and the
learners involved, and the actions they take are recorded.
The table below shows the activities that will take place.
Week 1 Data Collection Data Analysis Reflection on
children/student
learning
Reflection on
practice
Who will be
involved, and
what action will
they take?
Issuing and
answering of
The class
teacher and the
students
Analyzing of the
formative
assessment and

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the formative
assessment
collection of data
When will this
take place?
The first week
15th-09-2019
Where will this
happen?
Classroom
Week 2 Data Collection Data Analysis Reflection on
children/student
learning
Reflection on
practice
Who will be
involved, and
what action will
they take?
Pretest and
selection of the
case study
Teacher-student
and the learners
Marking and
grouping of
learners
When will this
take place?
Week two
19th-09-2019
Where will this
happen?
Classroom
Week 3 Data Collection Data Analysis Reflection on
children/student
learning
Reflection on
practice
Who will be
involved, and
what action will
they take?
Implementation
of the strategies
both word wall
and vocabulary
dictionary
Learners and
the teacher
Working with
learners to
implement the
task
When will this
take place?
Week three
6th-10-2019
Where will this
happen?
Classroom
Week 4 Data Collection Data Analysis Reflection on
children/student
Reflection on

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learning practice
Who will be
involved, and
what action will
they take?
Review of what
has been learned
teacher Giving learners
review questions
When will this
take place?
Week four
12th-10-2019
Where will this
happen?
Classroom
Week 5 Data Collection Data Analysis Reflection on
children/student
learning
Reflection on
practice
Who will be
involved, and
what action will
they take?
Summative
examination
learners
When will this
take place?
Week five
19th-10-2019
Where will this
happen?
Classroom
*NB It is anticipated that your planning above will change as action research is an iterative process.
FINDINGS
The findings of the study will be presented in two forms: quantitatively and qualitatively. The
quantitative data will concentrate on describing the knowledge extent of the mathematical
concepts, while the qualitative form will be focused on how the ability of the students towards
mathematics have been affected. For instance, to show whether the learners' ability to solve
mathematical word problem has improved, remained constant or decreased.

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DISCUSSION
Majorly, with regards to the data which is to be gathered, there are three likely key issues which
are anticipated from the children’s/students learning. The issues include:
 The use of word wall within the classroom can be essential in improving the vocabulary
of the learners in the discipline
 Regular exercise and discussions can be significant in determining whether the students
can gain command in the language
 The method, which is applied in teaching students, proves the aptitude of enhancing the
learners' ability to solve the problem,
When all those factors are established, then it becomes no doubt that the teaching technique is
valid and should be recommended, especially for the grade two children.
CONCLUSION
Different approaches can be used to support the mathematical word problem-solving ability of
second-grade learners. When the appropriate techniques are applied, it becomes easy for learners
to have the interest and the ability to solve problems related to mathematics. The strategy
employed in the inquiry project attempt to offer a different approach of improving the learner's
ability through having strong command in vocabulary as well as arithmetic skills.
List of references

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Carcoba Falomir, G. A. (2019) ‘Diagramming and Algebraic Word Problem Solving for
Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities,' Intervention in School & Clinic, 54(4), pp. 212–
218.
Jitendra, Asha K., Griffin, Cynthia C. Leh, J., Adams, A, Kaduvettoor J. and Anju, K. (2007) ‘A
Comparison of Single and Multiple Strategy Instruction on Third-Grade Students' Mathematical
Problem Solving,' Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), pp. 115–127.
Mousley, K. and Kelly, R. R. (2017) ‘Problem-solving strategies for teaching mathematics to
deaf students,' American Annals of the Deaf, 143(4), pp. 325–336.
Mushangwe, H. (2014) ‘Translation as a mathematical problem: An analysis of Chinese-English
and English-Chinese word equivalent,' Translation & Interpreting, 6(2), pp. 55–66.
Pagiliaro, C. M. and Ansell, E. (2012) ‘Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students' Problem-Solving
Strategies with Signed Arithmetic Story Problems,' American Annals of the Deaf, 156(5), pp.
438–458.
Pfannenstiel, K. H. (2015) ‘Cognitive Strategy Instruction for Teaching Word Problems to
Primary-Level Struggling Students,' Intervention in School & Clinic, 50(5), pp. 291–296.
Zhu, N.(2015) ‘Cognitive Strategy Instruction for Mathematical Word Problem-solving of
Students with Mathematics Disabilities in China,' International Journal of Disability,
Development & Education, 62(6), pp. 608–627.
Freeman, G. S. Shaqwana M., and O'Brien, C., (2015) ‘Effects of the SOLVE Strategy on the
Mathematical Problem Solving Skills of Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities,'
Learning Disabilities Research & Practice (Wiley-Blackwell), 30(2), pp. 76–90.

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Kingsdorf, S. and Krawec, J. (2014) ‘Error Analysis of Mathematical Word Problem Solving
Across Students with and without Learning Disabilities,' Learning Disabilities Research &
Practice (Wiley-Blackwell), 29(2), pp. 66–74.
Jiang, C., Hwang, S. and Cai, J. (2014) ‘Chinese and Singaporean sixth-grade students' strategies
for solving problems about speed,' Educational Studies in Mathematics, 87(1), pp. 27–50.
Poch, A. L., van Garderen, D., and Scheuermann, A. M. (2015) ‘Students' Understanding of
Diagrams for Solving Word Problems: A Framework for Assessing Diagram Proficiency,'
Teaching Exceptional Children, 47(3), pp. 153–162.