Evaluation of two methods for comparing multiple ideas when solving problems about judgments based on representative values: Elementary school pupils

Abstract

The present study compared 2 methods for comparing multiple ideas in pupils' problem solving. Fifth grade pupils (N=44) were assigned to 1 of 2 conditions involving different methods. All pupils were shown 4 ideas based on the mean, mode, maximum, and minimum with a histogram. The pupils in the Method 1 group first found similarities between the 4 ideas, and then found differences. The pupils in the Method 2 group chose the best from among the 4 ideas, and then explained why they had selected it. Next, all the pupils solved 2 problems. Problem A examined whether they could estimate a number of ways other than the mean when the data contained an outlier; Problem B examined whether they could refer to multiple ideas when comparing data. More pupils in the Method 1 group than the Method 2 group gave appropriate answers on Problem A. On Problem B, the pupils in the Method 1 group referred to more ideas than the pupils in the Method 2 group did. These results suggest that finding similarities and differences between ideas may be an effective comparison method when solving problems about representative values.