Abstract:

In Lithuania, the standardized tests of student achievements, being executed annually for more than a decade, have shown that primary school students were usually not bad at completing the tasks of applying mathematical algorithms. The tests also revealed that students have had the most difficulties solving tasks that require mathematical reasoning.

It can be assumed that such a situation arose due to the fact that, until now, mathematical reasoning has not been purposefully taught at school. Only recently, in various countries of the world, the field of mathematical reasoning has become an integral part of the educational program. Developing mathematical reasoning is also put in the plans of new mathematical education programs that will be implemented throughout Lithuania from 2023.

Individual studies on the development of mathematical reasoning testify that when students are consistently taught to reason, they solve both routine and more complex tasks that require the use of mathematical reasoning well, and the achievements of these students are higher in all areas of mathematical activity.

This article presents a study, the purpose of which is to highlight the peculiarities of the solution of the text problem depending on the level of mathematical reasoning. A qualitative study was conducted, during which the levels of mathematical reasoning achieved by two groups of students of 2nd and 4th grades were determined and the differences between the problem solutions of those groups of students were highlighted. The solutions of the problem, requiring the knowledge on the division operation, when 2nd grade students have not learned division yet, are analyzed.

The results of the study showed that most of the 2nd grade students, who were taught mathematical reasoning, have solved the problem correctly, usually explaining the solution with drawings. Most of the non-taught to reasoning mathematically grade 4 students found the correct answer to the problem, but often wrote down their solutions with the wrong numerical expression or gave a mentally calculated answer without any explanation. Only a few students wrote a text explaining the solution.

The research allows us to state that 2nd grade students who are taught to reason are able to solve non-routine tasks by creatively relying on the visualization of the task condition. Students of the 4th grade who are not taught to reason mathematically do not connect all the data of the condition when writing down the solution, and they often determine the correct answer intuitively.

Keywords:

Text problem solving, visualization, level of mathematical reasoning, primary school students.