Examining the effects of an intervention on mathematical modeling in problem solving at upper elementary grades: a cluster randomized trial study

Although mathematical modeling during problem solving has attracted increased scholarly interest, existing quantitative work in this field has largely concentrated on secondary and tertiary education. Using a cluster-randomized-trial design, this study explored the contribution of an intervention ai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMathematical thinking and learning Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 202 - 220
Main Authors Charalambous, Yiannis, Charalambous, Charalambos Y.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia Routledge 03.04.2025
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Cluster randomized trial study
Clusters
Control Groups
Education
elementary grades
Elementary School Students
Experimental Groups
Grade 5
Growth models
intervention
Mathematical Models
modeling
Modelling
Problem solving
Student Problems
Students
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Summary:Although mathematical modeling during problem solving has attracted increased scholarly interest, existing quantitative work in this field has largely concentrated on secondary and tertiary education. Using a cluster-randomized-trial design, this study explored the contribution of an intervention aiming to support upper elementary students' problem-solving modeling performance. The analytic sample of the study consisted of 50 Grade 5 and 6 classes (815 students) whose teachers volunteered to participate in the study; the classes were assigned to either an experimental (25 classes) or a control condition (25 classes), each receiving five 80-minute lessons on either modeling activities or solving routine and process problems, respectively. Student problem-solving modeling performance was measured before, right after, and two months after the culmination of the intervention. The person estimates emerging from a Rasch analysis of these data were analyzed using inferential statistics and a multi-level piecewise linear growth model. The analyses showed that students in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group both at the immediate and late test administration. Additionally, fifth graders in the experimental group outperformed sixth graders in the control group. We discuss the implications of these findings for teaching modeling during problem solving in elementary grades.
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ISSN:1098-6065
1532-7833
DOI:10.1080/10986065.2023.2270088