Using interactive items in arithmetic problems to help Grade 3 students shift from intuitive to arithmetic-based strategies and create mental representation.

In 2014, 32% of Grade 3 students in fundamental schools in Luxembourg failed to attain the minimum required skill level in mathematics; rising from 30% of students in 2015, as measured by the Ep.Stan examination, a standardized assessment of students at national level. These results have been rather stable since 2011, suggesting that almost 1 in 3 students in grade 3 do not possess the mathematical skills they would need to successfully progress in school. Most students in this bottom tier of performance in mathematics are also found to have low scores in reading skills in the German language (these students also tend to be recent arrivals with a low socio-economic profile) (Martin et al 2014), which as we will see has a compounding effect on their mathematics performance.

At the beginning of grade 3 in the fundamental schools in Luxembourg, students begin to delve into the skills needed to solve arithmetic wording problems. That students encounter more barriers to perform highly in the resolution of arithmetic wording problems than in those problems presented in a numeric form is however a well-known fact (Reusser 1990). The needed skills are not only mathematical, but well-developed skills in reading the language are needed, to solve an arithmetic wording problem (LeBlanc & Weber-Russel 1996). Both conditions do not allow the low performing students, who also perform less well in Ep.Stan, to succeed.
The purpose of this PhD study will be to measure the impact on the test results from Ep. Stan of the grade 3 students by letting students learn on wording problems that require intuitive strategies at first, up to those needing a more arithmetic strategy through interactive animated items in the digital learning environment MathemaTIC.