Why does placing the question before an arithmetic word problem improve performance? A situation model account

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the controversial issue of the nature of the representation constructed by individuals to solve arithmetic word problems. More precisely, we consider the relevance of two different theories: the situation or mental model theory (Johnson-Laird, 1983; Reusser, 1989) and the schema theory (Kintsch & Greeno, 1985; Riley, Greeno, & Heller, 1983). Fourth-graders who differed in their mathematical skills were presented with problems that varied in difficulty and with the question either before or after the text. We obtained the classic effect of the position of the question, with better performance when the question was presented prior to the text. In addition, this effect was more marked in the case of children who had poorer mathematical skills and in the case of more difficult problems. We argue that this pattern of results is compatible only with the situation or mental model theory, and not with the schema theory.

We would like to thank Jane Oakhill for her useful comments and her corrections on the last version of this paper.

Notes

¹ In French, “Combien Tom et Tim ont-ils sorti de voitures ensemble?”, “Combien Tom a-t-il sorti de bouteilles de plus que Tim?”, and “Combien Tim a-t-il sorti de voitures de moins que Tom?” for Combine 1, Compare 1, and Compare 2 problems, respectively.