The National Crisis in Verbal Problem Solving in Mathematics: A Proposal for Examining the Role of Basal Mathematics Programs

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1980) recommended that "problem solving must be the focus of school mathematics in the 1980's" (p. 2). In view of this significant concern over mathematics word-problem-solving instruction and the significant impact commercial instructional materials have on teachers and students, we recommend "procedures of partial specification" (Mosenthal, 1984, p. 197) for examining what takes place in basal mathematics programs. The article consists of 3 components. First, we argue the importance of evaluating mathematics word-problem-solving instruction in basal curriculum programs. Second, we review 6 prominent areas of the research literature on mathematical problem solving in an effort to identify the critical features that should be considered in the analysis of word-problem-solving instruction in commercially developed basal mathematics programs. These areas include (a) the role of implicit models of cognition in solving verbal problems, (b) the role of metacognition in word-problem solving, (c) learner characteristics associated with successful word-problem solution, (d) characteristics of word problems, (e) classification systems for mathematical word problems, and (f) instructional programs and techniques that best facilitate the acquisition of problem-solving skills. Finally, we propose guidelines for evaluating word-problem-solving instruction in basal mathematics programs.