Abstract
To analyze the impact of illustrations on solving mathematical word problems for primary school students, in this study we investigated systematically the functions of illustrations in terms of various presentations of texts and illustrations, and the difficulties associated with various learning materials. The characteristics of eye movement were studied with regard to the effect of split attention by using eye trackers. The results revealed the following: the presentation format of integrated texts and illustrations worked the best for problem solving under the condition of mathematical word problems with illustrations; the difficulty of the problem affected the role of illustrations; a high frequency of attention switching between texts and illustrations and longer fixation durations on the required picture provided evidence for the split attention effect using an eye-movement index. Based on these results, using more visual and verbal representations helps students solve mathematical word problems.
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Wang, X., Kang, W., Huang, L. et al. The impact of illustrations on solving mathematical word problems for Chinese primary school students: evidence for a split attention effect on eye-movement research. ZDM Mathematics Education 54, 555–567 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-022-01357-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-022-01357-3