PUB TYPE Reports- Research/Technical (143)--

A study of 29 students enrolled in Algebra II in an 8-week summer instructional program for minority students was conducted to reveal the skills that students have in translating among representational forms in mathematics problems where the representational form is varied in the given problem and in the required form of the answer. All students were Black or Hispanic and most were about to enter grade 11. The relationship between the kinds of translation used in instruction and students ' problem solving processes and performance is also investigated. Students were presented With problems from two topics: solving simultaneous equations in two unknowns and distance-rate-time relationships. Problem sets were developed that varied the symboJic form of the problem as given (words in a story problem, graph, diagram, algebra) and of the response required (words, graph, diagram, algebra)