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Teaching Students Math Problem-Solving through Graphic Representations

receives special education services in a learning support classroom for mathematics and reading. She has little confidence in her problem-solving ability and has a phobia for mathematics. When asked to solve word problems, Lisa typically grabs all the numbers in the problem and starts to add rather than pause to understand the nature of the problem she has to solve. Many students who take Lisa’s approach to problem-solving—often students with learning disabilities and those at risk for math failure—become unsuccessful problem-solvers. But here’s the good news: We can use graphic representations to teach students with learning disabilities to be effective problem-solvers (see box, “What Is a Graphic Representational Technique?”). Recent studies have indicated that problem-solving instruction (e.g., graphic representational strategy) that emphasizes conceptual understanding can significantly help children with learning disabilities meet the challenges of the general education classrooms (Xin & Jitendra, 1999). This article describes the graphic representational technique, shows how to use the strategy for solving word problems, and discusses how to assess students’ problem-solving performance.