PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) Speeches /Conference Papers (150)

This research was concerned with the clarification of the role that the external representation process (e.g. drawing) plays in children's solving of complex arithmetic problems. Fourteen children in the 10- to 12-year-old age range were asked to represent and solve five complex arithmetic problems (three,:ith temporal organization of data, two with spatial organization). The analysis of the representation process in relation to problem solving revealed that: (1) the older children had more ability to represent and to illustrate the relations between the data of the problem; and (2) discursive representation (reformulation of the problem by the child) seemed easier in the problems that called into play a temporal organization. The significance of these results for research in the area of problem solving in the teaching of mathematics is discussed. (Author/YP