The Effect of Different Presentation Methods of Simple Arithmetic Word Problems on First Grade Elementary School Students' Processing Efficiency

Introduction: Working memory is responsible for processing and temporarily storing information, functioning as a complex cognitive system for storing and processing information simultaneously. This system consists of various components including the central executive component, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketchpad. An individual's processing efficiency within this system depends on the functioning of these different components. Processing efficiency is defined by the effort made or the resources used to complete a task, and is typically measured based on the mental effort exerted or the time spent. In arithmetic, addition and subtraction are the first operations taught. Addition and subtraction problems are typically divided into two main types based on how they are expressed: symbolic problems and word problems. Word problems use word statements (text-based) to represent situations involving addition or subtraction operation. This study focuses on simple pictorial arithmetic word problems of the change type (involving increase and decrease) with dynamic variations. According to Sweller's cognitive load theory, presenting information in different modalities (such as visual, auditory, or combination) can help reduce cognitive load. As a result, according to Cognitive Load Theory, by presenting visual and auditory systems together (due to the simultaneous use of word and visual memory capacities) greater cognitive load can be processed (leading to a reduction in cognitive load).
Method: The current study has sought to investigate the effect of different presentation methods of simple arithmetic word problems on students' processing efficiency and to compare varied effects of these methods on processing efficiency of academically weak and strong students. The research is applied in terms of purpose, and experimental (factorial design with 1 group factor and 1 presentation method) in terms of design, in which the effect of group factor (academically weak and strong students) and presentation methods of simple arithmetic word problems (pictorial, auditory and combination) on the dependent variable (processing efficiency of the studied students) is examined. The statistical population of the study comprises all the first-grade elementary school students of Yasouj in 1402-1403 (4049 students).  Through volunteer sampling, 58 students were selected as the participants of the research (29 students in each group). To select participants, students of six elementary schools (3 girls' schools and 3 boys' schools) in Yasouj were chosen as available participants. 523 students volunteered to participate in the study, out of which 58 students were selected after a screening test for identifying strong and weak students in simple arithmetic problems. Notably, students who answered 75% or more of the questions of arithmetic speed test were considered strong (20 girls and 9 boys), while those who answered 25% or fewer questions were classified as weak (14 girls and 15 boys) and participated in the study. The instrument used in the study was adapted from math problems of the first-grade math book. 24 problems were given to each participant: 8 problems in each presentation method (visual, auditory and combination) with half focusing on subtraction and the other half on addition. In order to assess processing efficiency which is defined as the time spent on answering a problem in working memory, simple arithmetic problems were used considering the time spent on answering each test individually. The time each student spent on each test was measured separately using a stopwatch. The score obtained by each student divided by the time spent on each test individually represents the student's efficiency score.
    Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance as well as Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were utilized to analyze the data.
Results: The results revealed that the processing efficiency of both weak and strong students in increasing problems is higher than in decreasing problems in every presentation method. In addition, the processing efficiency of both weak and strong students in combination presentation is higher than in pictorial presentation, and in pictorial presentation is higher than in auditory presentation. It is interesting to note that the same is true for the weak students. The results also indicated that there is a significant difference between the weak and strong students in terms of increasing and decreasing auditory problems, increasing and decreasing pictorial problems, and increasing and decreasing combination problems. Furthermore, the strong students showed higher processing efficiency compared to the weaker students in various problems with different presentations, and this progress is more noticeable in the strong students.
Discussion and Conclusion: According to the results of this study, mathematics teachers and instructors can facilitate students' learning process by using different methods of presenting simple arithmetic problems in their teaching. Moreover, these evaluations could have significant implications for the mathematical development of children (especially for those who struggle with math) in the future. Additionally, addressing foundational issues in subtraction problems can prevent the escalation of these difficulties and evolving into more complex challenges.