THE EFFECT OF COMPS-BASED PROBLEM POSING INTERVENTION ON ENHANCING MATH PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

In educational research, the cognitive activity of problem posing is recognized as an important component of mathematics teaching and learning. Compared to the prevailing educational paradigm of problem solving, problem posing features less commonly in classroom instruction. During the past 20 years, numerous studies examining the use of problem posing in school mathematics instruction have documented positive outcomes in terms of students’ knowledge, problem-solving abilities, creativity, and attitudes and beliefs regarding the study of mathematics. However, despite these promising results, problem posing in mathematics instruction has rarely been studied in the population of students with learning disabilities (LDs). This study describes a problem-posing intervention that draws on existing Conceptual Model-based Problem Solving program (COMPS, Xin, 2012) and conceptual research into the problem posing task. The COMPS-based problem posing intervention is designed to teach word problem posing skills to students with LDs under structured problem posing situations. The study applies a single-subject multiple-baseline design across three participants to investigate the effects on participants’ word problem solving and problem posing skills. The results showed that all three students demonstrated increased math performance on both problem solving and problem posing tests when the COMPS-based Problem Posing intervention was used. In addition, both immediate and maintenance effects on student learning were noted.