Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

Sub-Department

College of Education

First Advisor

James D. Kirylo

Abstract

The purpose of this action research study was to examine the impact the Start-Change-Result strategy had on the ability level of first-grade students working to solve dynamic addition math word problems. During an eight-week period, a class of 15 first-grade students from a high poverty setting participated in this study. These students struggled with correctly answering dynamic addition math word problems in which the unknown could be in any of three positions: the start, the change, or the result even though they had the computational skills to answer these questions accurately. All of these students had mastered solving basic addition facts and missing addend problems. The problem was these students were lacking in the ability to determine what was the unknown in the problem and apply an appropriate strategy for finding a solution. Data was collected through pre- and posttest results, as well as, student responses to a simple interview and teacher recorded observations. Results of a nationally normed Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) math test were also examined to see if teaching this strategy had any effect on these test results. The researcher analyzed the collected data and found that the implementation of the Start-Change-Result strategy increased the ability of these first-grade students to solve dynamic addition math word problems.

Rights

© 2018, Deborah S. Smith

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