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An Exploration of the Cognitive, Motivational, Emotional and Regulatory Behaviours of Elementary-School Novice and Expert Problem Solvers

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, the perennial low success rates of elementary students in mathematical problem solving and the difficulties experienced by teachers in meeting the various needs of their students with this type of task have become quite a hot topic. While there is a general consensus among education scholars about the crucial role played by cognitive, emotional and motivational self-regulatory processes in mathematical problem-solving learning and performance, so far, no study has looked simultaneously and finely at these three dimensions in specific profiles of students. That issue is the focus of this contribution. To gain fine-grained and complete understandings of the behaviours of “above average” and “below average” problem solvers, both research from educational psychology on emotion and motivation and the work done in mathematics education on the cognitive and metacognitive characteristics of these two learner profiles were called upon. This qualitative study conducted among 22 upper elementary students is based on a cross-analysis of their verbal and written output. The data revealed that inappropriate reading of the problem by “below average” learners masks a difficulty with taking all the relational calculations involved in the problem into account and a strong conception of the uselessness of the problem’s context. These behaviours do not improve during the solution process due to the absence of control and regulation strategies. Findings regarding “above-average” achievers make it possible to identify the most important cognitive, emotional, motivational and regulatory processes that go along with problem-solving expertise. Implications in terms of educational practices are also discussed.

Résumé

Au cours des deux dernières décennies, les faibles performances en résolution de problèmes mathématiques des élèves et les difficultés éprouvées par les enseignants à répondre à leurs besoins variés dans ce type de tâche sont devenues un sujet de plus en plus préoccupant. S'il existe un consensus général parmi les chercheurs en éducation sur le rôle crucial joué par les processus d'autorégulation cognitive, émotionnelle et motivationnelle dans l'apprentissage et la performance en résolution de problèmes mathématiques, aucune étude ne s'est penchée simultanément et finement sur ces trois dimensions auprès de profils spécifiques d’élèves. Cette question a fait l'objet de la présente contribution. Afin d'acquérir une compréhension fine et complète des comportements des élèves " au-dessus de la moyenne " et " en-dessous de la moyenne " en résolution de problèmes, nous avons convoqué à la fois les recherches en psychologie de l'éducation sur les émotions et la motivation, et les travaux en didactique des mathématiques sur les caractéristiques cognitives et métacognitives de ces deux profils d'apprenants. Cette étude qualitative menée auprès de 22 élèves en fin d’enseignement primaire repose sur une analyse croisée de leurs productions verbales et écrites. Les données montrent que la lecture inappropriée du problème par les résolveurs " en-dessous de la moyenne " masque à la fois une difficulté à prendre en compte l'ensemble des calculs relationnels impliqués dans le problème et une conception forte de l'inutilité du contexte du problème. Ces comportements n’évoluent pas au cours du processus de résolution en raison de l'absence de stratégies de contrôle et de régulation. Les résultats concernant les résolveurs "au-dessus de la moyenne" permettent d'identifier les processus cognitifs, émotionnels, motivationnels et régulateurs les plus importants pour accéder à l'expertise en résolution de problèmes. Les implications en termes de pratiques éducatives sont également abordées.

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Notes

  1. The schools’ socio-economic index score classifies schools on a scale of 1 (the lowest index) to 20 (the highest index). It is calculated from five factors measured for each student: the per capita income, the level of qualification, the unemployment rate, the professional activities, and the housing conditions. The index score of each school is then defined on the basis of the average of the indices of its population.

  2. Problem 1 is presented in Figure 11.

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  1. Université Catholique de Louvain, Research Institute of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Education, 10 Place Cardinal Mercier, B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Vanessa Hanin & Catherine Van Nieuwenhoven

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  1. Vanessa Hanin
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  2. Catherine Van Nieuwenhoven
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Correspondence to Vanessa Hanin.

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Appendices

Appendix 1. Example of an analysis of the verbal explanations of one learner

figure a

Appendix 2. Pooling of the individual analyses and first coding attempt

 

Task difficulty (P1) and inference regarding P2

Goal setting: external demand/personal goal (P2)

Self-efficacy belief (P2)

Planning (P2)

Below average

- Tom: Ouf, je suis sûr que j’ai raté, c’est vraiment dur. Je vais essayer de bien m’appliquer, je vais bien lire pour comprendre comment faire le calcul, je vais essayer de bien faire le problème.

- Rose : c’était difficile, je pense que j’ai raté. Je vais essayer de ne pas baisser les bras, s’il y a quelque chose que je comprends pas, je vais le relire plusieurs fois, pour bien me concentrer. Je veux obtenir une bonne réponse.

Julie : ouf, je l’ai trouvé moyen, je sais pas trop, je réussis pas trop donc euh… Moi j’ai envie d’y arriver cette fois. Je vais fort me concentrer, je vais bien lire pour bien comprendre.

(…)

Tom: moi, j’ai compris que Mathieu prend un bonbon, puis, Sarah prend un bonbon et à la fin Sarah prend 5 bonbons. Moi, je veux comprendre le problème, arriver à trouver ce que je dois faire.

Rose: Mathieu et Sarah prennent chacun un bonbon à tour de rôle et Sarah en prend 5 en plus. Je voudrais faire de bons calculs et tout ça.

Julie : euh après que madame a lu le problème, ben je viens de le relire une fois, j’ai un peu compris qu’il fallait savoir combien il y avait de bonbons en tout dans le paquet. Voilà… J’ai envie d’arriver à résoudre ce problème. (…)

Tom : Des difficultés ? moi, je bloque tout le temps sur les problèmes. Ouf, je sais pas trop trop… Moi, je suis vraiment pas fort en problèmes.

Rose : Moi, j’ai des problèmes dans tout math, donc euh… Moi, j’ai tout le temps faux en problème, je suis vraiment pas très forte, donc euh…

Julie : j’arrive jamais à faire les problèmes, je suis vraiment pas forte en problèmes.

(…)

Tom (P2): là je vais faire mon calcul, fin… euh… je vais calculer.

Rose (P2): ben, moi, je vais relire pour voir quel calcul il faut faire et après, je vais… Ben après, je… je sais pas encore trop.

Julie : ben, je vais… Je vais… en fait, je sais pas encore très bien. En fait, j’ai pas très bien compris.

(…)

Above average

Hugo: pour moi, ils sont tous aussi faciles parce que je suis fort en problèmes. Comme ça a bien marché, je vais faire pareil pour le deuxième problème.

Claire: pour moi ils sont tous de même niveau de facilité. Je vais faire comme j’ai fait pour le problème 1. Bien lire, bien comprendre, prendre bien mon temps pour avoir juste. (…)

Hugo: ce que j’ai compris c’est que Sarah va prendre chaque fois un bonbon en plus que Mathieu et qu’il faut savoir le nombre de bonbons qu’il y a dans le sachet et faire en sorte qu’il y ait 5 bonbons d’écart. Mon objectif est d’avoir la bonne réponse.

Claire : Ce que j'ai compris, c'est que chaque enfant va prendre 1 bonbon de plus que l'autre à chaque fois et que Mathieu commence. Et, il faut savoir combien de bonbons il y a au total dans le paquet. Mon objectif c’est d’arriver à une réponse qui est bonne.

(…)

Hugo: je ne pense pas rencontrer de difficulté parce que je suis bon en problèmes.

Claire : je vais pas avoir de difficulté parce que je suis assez forte dans tout math.

(…)

Hugo : je vais faire un tableau avec Mathieu et Sarah et je vais à chaque fois rajouter 2 bonbons, fin je vais rajouter le nombre de bonbons adéquat et à chaque fois regarder qu’il y ait un bonbon de différence et dès que Sarah elle aura 5 bonbons en plus, je vais additionner le tout.

Claire : je vais dessiner deux enfants et je vais mettre en dessous les bonbons, +1, +2, +3, etc. (…)

  1. P1: marbles game; P2: greedy child; P3: at the restaurant. Colour-coding was used to distinguish different theoretical dimensions within the same verbatim extract. Keywords have been put in bold

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Hanin, V., Van Nieuwenhoven, C. An Exploration of the Cognitive, Motivational, Emotional and Regulatory Behaviours of Elementary-School Novice and Expert Problem Solvers. Can. J. Sci. Math. Techn. Educ. 20, 312–341 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-020-00092-9

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