DOCUMENT RESUME

When students confront arithmetic or algebraic word problems, they develop ideas and notations during the processes of solving them by using various arithmetic strategies. Those ideas and notations are the basis for solving that type of problems. Is it possible to aid the development of students ' algebraic thinking during their transition from arithmetic to algebra? We think that a way of doing so is by presenting them with different types of problems-as proposed by Bednarz and Janvier (1996)--and encouraging their reasoning and development of strategies linked to their arithmetic thinking. Hence, the identification of strategies used by fifth graders when solving algebraic word problems is of outstanding importance for finding effective ways to aid students during their transition from the arithmetic to the algebraic thinking. Results obtained in this research study show that with these types of mathematics word problems, students generate strategies that at certain moments become useful for their transition to the algebraic thinking. (Author) PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AN