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Processing of Situational Information in Story Problem Texts. An Analysis from On-Line Measures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2014

Josetxu Orrantia ,
David Muñez ,
Santiago Vicente ,
Lieven Verschaffel  and
Javier Rosales
Josetxu Orrantia*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
David Muñez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
Santiago Vicente
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
Lieven Verschaffel
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Javier Rosales
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Josetxu Orrantia. Facultad de Educación. Paseo de Canalejas 169. 37008. Salamanca (Spain). Phone: +34–923294630. Fax: +34–923294609. Email: orrantia@usal.es
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Abstract

In three experiments, we investigated the extent to which readers process information related to the construction of a situation model when they are confronted with solving word problems. Considering that generation of inferences to match actions with particular goals is part of constructing of the situation model, we constructed “rich story problems”, that is, word problems included in the context of a story, in which the characters propose goals, and then these goals are followed by actions to achieve it. In Experiments 1 and 2 the story problems were designed so that the character’s goal was related to the activation of a problem schema, either explicitly (Experiment 1) or implicitly (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3 the problem schema activation was clearly separated from the goal information. In all three experiments, goal information availability was assessed by on-line measures. The results showed that participants processed situational information by keeping track of characters’ goals. These results fit nicely with those studies that emphasize the role of situation model construction in word problem solving.

Keywords

word problem solvinginference makingsituation modelnarratives
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E8
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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